High School Murders
by NicolaDarkness
Summary: Murder is at the school Nicola,Arisu and all the naruto charaters go to!who could be doing this and why do people think Nicola has something to do with it?but never fear!she is well protected by her werefreinds and werecousins!Or is she?werecreatures fic!
1. Victim 1

**Chapter 1: Victim 1**

The wind whipped through the towering trees as he ran for his precious life in this never-ending forest of death. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart, his frantic foot falls, and his painted breath. Branches, twigs and sharp thorn like sticks, cut open his face and body, as they slammed into him in his break neck dash for safety. His vision blurred and melded together as all the greens, browns, and greys ran together into one solid mass of colour, surrounding him in his race for survival. His mouth gaped open with his tong hanging down from his jaws, drenched in saliva and all he could taste was the cold air on his tong, and the occasional bug that flew down into his wind pipe. He feared he would go mad or collapse, if he did not escape the clutches of these horridly demonic woods.

He just kept running, for his life. The night sky above him seemed to be laughing at him, with its coating of stars that would wink at him through the blur of colour and make him all the more fearful and angry at the same time. He just wished he hadn't got himself into this, why was he so gullible?! He couldn't believe the person that had been sending notes to him in his locker had asked him to finally meet face to face, so of cores he said yes and they agreed to meet in these very woods. Now look were that got him! How was he going to get out of this one?!

**Thump Thump!**

His heart pounded against his chest.

**Crack Crack!**

The leaves and twigs snapped beneath his feet.

**Whoosh!**

The frozen wind scraped across his face making it turn numb.

Then, out of the blue, his legs come out from underneath him and, as he fell he felt a searing pain and a thick wetness near the tops of his thighs near his waist. He let out a blood-curtailing scream as he slowly turned to look down upon the bloody, torn stumps of mangled flesh, bone and trouser fabric that used to carry him around all day as his legs. The looked as if someone or something had just up and ripped them off with their bare hands, claws, teeth, or whatever the hell the thing used to do this to his precious legs.

How would he ever be able to run in the house championships in the four hundred meter race with no legs!?

How would he win sports day and bring back the trophy for his school's house!?

Scratch that; how the hell would he ever get home!?

Blood pooled round him out of his stumps in a never ending sea that spread across the ground like a river flooding it's banks, staining the ground crimson red. His body was going into shock. A fatal shock.

Then he went into cardiac arrest.

He felt the sweet arms of death take him and he embraced it with open arms as he felt his physical form drifting further and further away from him. He then was ripped into the next life where he would be free to walk without the danger of having his legs torn off ever again.

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**Hey I know this is like way short! but its only like a short intro**

**It will make sence more into the story you go! ^_^**

**This was something I wrote on holiday and just found a few days ago so decided to type it up and write some more!**

**Rate and Review! XD**

**P.S. Get well soon my sprout!!!!!!**


	2. Meeting the Guys!

**Chapter 2: Meeting the guys!**

"NICKY!" screamed the dreadedly familiar voice of a hyper active blond as I approached the school gates. Said girl was storming towards me with a fuming look in her eyes that would have made any God, no matter what religion, soil their shorts. (I am not religious by the way, it's just a good way of describing the look in her eyes *shivers*) This anger filled girl's name is Arisu, and she has been and always will be one of my best friends. I never turned up to a revision session after school yesterday and that is why she's currently ready to rip me up and feed me to Kiba Inuzuka (a dog-like boy in our year group).

She has short, blond hair that falls just to her shoulders with dark blue eyes, accentuated with eyeliner and a slight tan on her floorless skin. She is wearing the school uniform that all the students at this school are cursed to wear. It consists of a black blazer with while shirt that you can wear a jumper over if you like (but only if it's black and a v neck) and black trousers or skirt with black shoes. We also wear ties that are green with the stripe colour of your house on them, in both our cases, the stripes are a blue a shade lighter then her eyes. She wears her uniform with no jumper, top button undone with a large note at the top of her tie and her shirt un-tucked from her skirt that just makes it to her knees with black, fish-net tights underneath that lead to her simple black dolly shoes.

"Why weren't you there!?" she shouts, pointing an accusing finger at me. "I was stuck in there for a whole hour with no one to talk to and a blond midget perving on me from the back row!"

"Sorry Ri." I say sheepishly with my head bent towards the floor, taking a sudden interest in the tarmac beneath my feet. "But, I found out that, well, 'that' was there and I just couldn't go in there. I turned up but 'that' was already in there waiting for me and I just couldn't go in there. I'm really sorry, I am Ri." I finish with a now sad smile.

"Ow," she says in a guilty voice. She new exactly what I was on about. "No, don't be sorry. I'm sorry I totally forgot about 'that' and yes, 'that' was in there when I got in to. I can see why you didn't come in. Sorry." She says in a sad voice and I look up at her and give her a bright smile.

"Don't worry about it. Its all good now, let's go and meet up with the rest." I say and she smiles back brightly at me, happy to have been forgiven so easily.

We walked across the teen filled yard and met up with everyone else to talk a bit before we had to actually go into school. As usual, there was a one-sided argument going on between my two cousins, Naruto (who was the one-sided part) was shouting at Sasuke (who was looking away bored) for some reason or another, while Hinata (the last of my four best friends that included my two cousins) was trying to calm Naruto down.

Both the boys look so different you wouldn't think they are related at all, well, there not genetically. My mom was Sasuke's auntie and she married Naruto's uncle which led them to having me. At the time a feud was going on between the two families and my dad ended up being killed by Sasuke's dad and in spite, Naruto's dad killed my mom but then something strange happened, he noticed the bump in my mom's tummy so cut her open and that's when I came out. This all happened on the same day and when Sasuke's older brother Itachi came in he saw this and killed my uncle on the spot, taking me and putting me into care. Both Naruto and Sasuke had already been born a while back, and so Naruto was put into care since his dad was the last family he had (his mom had died in childbirth with him) and that was where the feud ended. On my eighth birthday, another tragedy would happen because Itachi was to kill the whole of his family and leave Sasuke as the only survivor before he committed suicide himself. Have I got a messed up family or what!

Naruto has blond hair as bright as the sun, sparkling blue eyes and tanned skin. He is the second tallest in our group with Sasuke being first at 6'2, followed by Naruto at 6'1, then Arisu at 5'10 as third, me at 5'9 and finally Hinata last at 5'7. We are all pretty tall, but I still get the Mick taken out of me by the boys because I'm short while there tall, just because they both take after their dads for height.

Sasuke is the complete opposite of Naruto, with blue/black hair, eyes as black as pits and paper pale skin. This makes him the school heartthrob and the centre of most girls' attention, especially Arisu's. But she's allowed so it's ok.

Hinata's family used to be connected to Sasuke's way back so she's a distant cousin of mine as well and you can sure tell those two were related some where way back. She has black/blue/purple hair similar to Sasuke's with snow white skin to boot, but their eyes are polar opposites, her eyes are pure white with no pupil what so ever so that she looks blind but actually, here eyes are some of the best around!

The one-sided argument stopped as we approached and all three of them walked up to greet us. They all hugged Arisu (even Sasuke!) and said 'Hi!' while I stood there smiling. They all high-fived and said 'Hello!' to me too of course. But no hugs for me and that's just how I like it. All that touchy-feely stuff, I can't stand being part of it! I guess I'm just kind of weird that way.

We then stand and talk about what's knew in our lives, if anything and the two couples just enjoy the arms of their partner. Ow, did I forget to mention, our group if divided into two couples and me, the single. Sasuke and Arisu are mates and so are Naruto and Hinata. No, not mates as in friends, mates as in the term you use with animals, like foxes and cats. Which are what both couples are. That's another thing I forgot to mention, there all were-creatures. Naruto and Hinata are a mated pair of werefoxes and Sasuke and Arisu a mated pair of werecats.

I bet you all are well confused now, so let me explain. No you can not be turned into a were-creature in any way; you have to be born into a family of were-creatures. Now you may be asking what I am since I'm related to both Sasuke and Naruto, well, I'm human. I was never supposed to have ever existed in the first place, the reason my two families were at war was because of the species difference. It was a battle, cats vs. foxes. So when a couple formed, one from each family, you can say nether were two please. Why do you think both my parents were killed in the first place? Because of them being different species it was thought impossible for them to reproduce with each other, but evidently not. My theory is that I only inherited mostly human traits from my parents and the natural competitiveness between cat and fox cancelled each other out in my genes so I was born a human, well, for the most part. I have the scenes of a were-creature, enhanced sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch (which is why no one hugs me) that, unlike were-creatures, I can't turn off whenever I want to, along with my body being stronger, faster and quicker to heal. What a life, sometimes I can really sympathise with superman.

I am brought out of my thoughts by the loud siren of the bell ad I cover my ears with a groan before we all head off to the classroom. The first school screech is the one for form and, as luck would have it, we had all ended up in the same one. We all took our seats at the back of the room were we can talk in peace. From the right were the widow is looking over the beautiful flower club's gardens, we sit me, Arisu, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata on the end. I always sit by the window so that I can look out of it and not have to listen to the mating couple's mushy and often inappropriate chatter. I don't even want to know what they do in their own time, just as long as I'm left out of it.

Mating couples stay together for life so looks like I will never escape them, but that's ok, because I can still take pride in the fact that I got both couples together in the first place. First Naruto had come to me one day and told me that he thought Hinata was 'the one' and wanted my help so I promised I would think of something, but the Sasuke said he was sure that Arisu was 'the one' so I then had two problems. Then it hit me! Girls love mushy romantic stuff and what better the both friends having their crushes ask them to be their mates at the exact same time! Problem solved! The boys would feel more confident with each other their ad the girls would be so bowled over that they would just have to say yes! Not that they would have said no anyway. So that what they did and it worked!

At the moment our form teacher Iruka sensei as we all call him, is taking the register, so the classroom is mostly quiet apart from one or two whispered conversations under the role call. We answer our names in turn and are about to get chatting again on a topic I will take part in, which park we want to hang out in after school, when the door flies open reviling a man who walks in flashing his ides badge to the class. He is a tall man who's lower face is covered by a dark blue mask and his left eye covered by a headband that helps to keep his gravity-defying silver hair out of his eye. He looks in his late twenties or early thirties and is getting the eye from most girls in the class. A top-notch police office it looks like.

He then speaks in a surprisingly friendly and clear voice since his mouth is covered by fabric, "Yo everyone! My name is Kakashi Hatake!" He starts with a wave to which most kids smile at before his other eye opens and his tone turns serious, skitzo or what! "I'm here to investigate the death of a pupil in your year in Ludlow, a student called David Peters."

At the name I froze ad a small smile came to my face ad I glanced at Arisu who wore the same expression, we smiled at each other, glade that 'that' was finally gone. 'That' was actually a Ludlow boy in our year called David Peters and he had been following me for some time now. At school, on the way home and to school, around town, and it just really cheeped me out! I only told Arisu because she would me the only one not to freak, or tear the boy to pieces. She agreed to keep an eye on him for me so that I felt safer. The feeling didn't last long because she came to me the next day telling me that he had watched my window all last night till 3 in the morning when he finally left. That had really freaked me out and I have avoided him ever since. I had never had a stalker before so the whole thing seemed so impossible that it took something this big to get my attention. That was two weeks ago and since then I have been ever careful, but now I feel like a huge wait has been lifted off my shoulders ad I can breath again!

"I'm going to call you all out one by one, on your own, to ask you some questions about the boy and your school." The detective continues and my smile drops, I was not going to like this. He then proceeded to look at us all in turn to make sure his point was firmly across. I met his one-eyed gaze with an emotionless one that would have made Sasuke proud and Naruto fume if either one of them had cared to look at me. Well, I'll give this cop one thing, he certainly doesn't beat around the bush.

After a few seconds of eyeing me up (in the way that cops do to all potential suspects) he moved on the to next person. Half a minute later, which seemed like forever in the utter silence of our usually bubbly classroom he seemed, satisfied his message had gotten through to all of us.

He cleared his throat with a small cough and got out a clip board. "Ok then, first up is, in no particular order just to make it fair, Hinata Hyuga."

She got up from her seat and sent me a worried glance. I smiled back up at her in reassurance and she nodded with a small smile in return. Naruto gave her hand one last comforting squeeze before she walked off giving us all a small, half-hearted wave and she walked out the classroom door followed by the detective. The interrogation was on!

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**So what do ya think?**

**Any good?**

**I just really wanted to do something with a supernatural theme and dont blame me I wrote this like last year and I'm just typing it up now so it may be a bit crap! -_-'**

**Rate and review!**


	3. Interrogation with the Masked Man

**Chapter 3: Interrogation with the Masked Man**

Empty. That was the only word that came to mind when looking into our form room in its current state. Absolutely empty. Why? You ask. Because everyone in the class, (even Iruka sensei!), has been called out for their turn with the detective except one. Me.

I now sit alone at my desk staring out the window at the flowers that bloom beneath it. I think about how the others did. If they were suspected of something or if it all went well. I also wonder when in hell's name my turn will be because the school day is almost at an end!

There seemed to be a half hour gap between each person being called out and none of us in the room were allowed to leave under any circumstances. Even when a boy called Choji Akimichi in our class asked to go to the toilet they wouldn't let him go and just handed him a plastic bottle to use. This embraced the boy to no means and caused the class to erupt into hysterics over what the police officer that had been left to guard our class had given the poor boy. But as luck would have it his name was called out next and he hurried out of the room to get his turn over with so he could go to the bathroom.

The said guard is still standing outside the door. I can make out the shadow of his form on the pain of glass that takes up a small portion of the top of our form room door. I don't think he even moves unless the detective comes in to get someone to which he opens and closes the door for them before going back to his post. Speaking of posts, that reminds me of the first time I ever spoke to the now dead boy, David Peters.

It was in maths last year and I finally moved up into set one which both Sasuke and Hinata happened to be in. Naruto and Arisu were both in set three the year before and had finally moved up into my set when I got a note saying to go to set one's classroom next lesson. Sasuke and Hinata were thrilled while Naruto and Arisu just sulked and the whole thing just made me giggle at how childish they all acted at there age.

So the next maths lesson I walked in with the two of them and sat in a seat next to the window with Sasuke on my right and Hinata next to him. That's when I noticed a boy across the room looking at me. He wasn't too tall and the only way that you could describe him was short. His hear was a light brown colour and was spiked up in odd places like the style most of the boys donned in our school. He wore a red-striped tie which would explain why I had never seen him before and looked kind of nervous and he fidgeted in his seat.

From that day on I started to notice him staring at me every maths lesson and at first I ignored it for him just staring at Hinata. But I was wrong because a couple of weeks later during maths we had to get into groups of four and he came shooting right over to us. That's when he asked me if he could work with us, and me being the kind person that I like to portray, said he could.

He sat opposite me and every time I would look at him he would quickly dart his eyes to something else and pretending he wasn't looking at me, but I could feel he was. After class as I was walking out he came up to me and formally introduced himself as David Peters. He even offered me his hand which I refused to take because of my whole heightened senses thing but he didn't really seem to care. He went to grab my hand but I matched his step and stepped back as he stepped forward which seemed to get through to him finally.

He then started to talk about sport, which I hate. He talked of how he was a great runner and was going to win all his races and bring home the house championship to his house and he would be a hero. I didn't believe him. Everyone knew that Naruto and Sasuke would win the house championship for their house and mine called Dudley. There was no way any human could our run those two! So this shrimp had no chance!

I managed to get out of there with an excuse of being late to meet my cousins after school and ran for it. Though no one knows that I'm related to ether Naruto or Sasuke. Tongs wag about it and I don't think those roomers need confirming.

Since then I would see him following me and I think that is when the real stalking began. He made me sick that he would go so far and no matter how hard I rack my brain, I still can't see why he would choose me. After all, I'm no where near as pretty as Arisu or Hinata which is why I hang round them so much. With them next to me I fade into the background and no one notices me, or at least that's what I thought.

I will admit though that as girls go I'm not ugly, but not drop dead gorgeous. I wear my red hair in a long ponytail that falls down to the middle of my back. My eyes are the same blue as Naruto's which is why people think we are related. My skin is as pale as Sasuke's which is why people also think I'm related to him as well. I'm quiet and like to daydream a lot like Sasuke likes to do, but I also like to go out and have fun like Naruto does. So in short you could say I'm a mix of the boys, but a female version.

So all in all I think I look rather plain in my opinion and my personality is hard to get round because of how I like to have fun but also like to go off on my own and daydream. So most boys just ignore me in favour of looking at the girls who I hang round with. So why on earth would some guy in my maths class have such a freaking obsession with me!

Just then I am pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of the door being opened and I look over to see detective Kakashi walk in with his clipboard at the ready. From what I can tell he is smiling behind his mask as he flips through the pages.

"And last, but certainly not least: Nicola Luna." He says in a bright cheery voice as he looks up at me with that lone eye of his.

With those word I stand, and silently make my way over to where he stands at the door waiting for me. Once I'm with him he leads the way down the corridor and the guard finally leaves his post and trails behind us like a daunting shadow. We walk down the end of the hallway until we come to the head's office and he ushers me in with the guard taking up his new position outside it with another officer who holds the door open for me and the detective as we enter.

Inside the room stood a lone table with a chair at ether side of it, one for me and one for the detective. On the table was a half filled jug of water that had two glasses near it. The detective walked in and took his seat on his side of the table and gestured for me to take the other which I did. He then pulled out a notepad and pen. He flipped through his notes that I assume where what he got from the other students who came in before me, until he stops about half way through the pad. His gaze raises and lock with mine as we sit in silence for a moment.

I feel like I'm being judged by him as he holds our gazes together. I decide to keep my face blank so as not to make he believe that I'm at all nervous. I am slightly but only because of what David was doing and how that could make me a suspect in the case. Though with my dumb luck I'll end up being prime suspect in the whole thing.

He finally stops and glances down at his pad and gets his pen ready. Here comes the questioning.

"Ok miss Luna. Now I want you to be straight with me when you answer my questions, so no lying ok?" he asks.

"Cross my heart and hope to rot." I say with a nod but I think my comment was a bit too much because his one visible eyebrow raises at my choice of words before he goes on with the questioning.

"Nice choice of wording since David's body was found by a jogger in the forest of death last night and his corpse was half rotted so we had trouble with the ID of his body at first." He says in a cool tone to which I just sit there in silence in response.

"Ok not much of a talker then." He says letting out a sigh of frustration from having to interview an entire class in one day. "Alright so that doesn't move you I'm sure theses will." He says and throws down so photo's he must have had hidden on him onto the table in front of me in all their gory glory.

There are three in all. All of them are different angles but all show the same thing. The mangled, rotted torso of David Peters and near by his legs that he used to be so proud of lye in a heap of mangled flesh. It looks as if someone, or something had ripped his legs right off and I quickly discard the thought forming in my head that one of my friends could be responsible.

Currently the four of us are living in our own apartments that are next door to each other. It's a common occurrence for on the night of a full moon to wake in the middle of the night as they come in and fall onto my living room floor. The noises I hear coming from them make me stay in my room till morning when I venture out and make myself some food and prepare whatever they bring home, usually rabbits or weasels.

Why they bring them home I don't want to know but it saves us some money on food bills and they don't taste half bad ether. Rabbit sandwiches, yum! But they never used to be so neat with what they brought home and after one to many new carpets I had to replace I told them that if they bring it home, broken necks only. They agreed so now all I really have to do is prepare the meat and clean up any dirt they've tracked in. Ow and replace the film I put over my entire living room every full moon. It's so I don't have to replace my furniture due to, well, the sort of stains they leave behind. I'm sure you can guess what I mean by that.

So long story short I have seen, and had to cook a lot worse then the pictures the detective thinks will faze me. Not that I like the scene, it just doesn't bother me.

I pick up all the photos and examine them closely and come to the conclusion that no animal would have done this. The mornings where the legs were joined to the torso are consistent with a single sharp pulling motion that caused the legs to come off. This can only be caused by an animal with hands and since there are no missing apes in the whole country, it had to be a human.

Well no it couldn't be a human because a human isn't strong enough to do that. so it had to be something supernatural. The motive seems to be hatred by the violence of the attack, but who would dislike a human that much to rip the legs off from right under them?

This notion causes me to frown and I place the photos in a pile neatly back on the table. Detective Kakashi has a surprised look at my reaction and seems to be waiting for me to make my opinion on the photos heard. So I gladly oblige.

"Well detective Kakashi, I do feel honoured that you would share this evidence with me. But it does have me wondering what makes me so special to all the other pupils?" I ask looking at his stunned face with a frown on my own.

"What! How could you be so calm after seeing those pictures?" he asks in a weary tone, the shock in his eye having turned into suspicion.

"Well, I do some part-time work at the city morgue on the weekends and they get a lot worse then this come in so just don't get me started on it." I say with a wave of my hand before getting back to the point. "But you still haven't answered my question detective Kakashi." I state in a flat tone and drawing out the detectives name to add more effect to my statement.

He straightens himself at my comment and places his hands on the table calmly before answering me. I feel like at the moment I may be the killer in this guys mind. If he thinks that then he's a crummy detective alright.

"Well after interviewing the victim's close family and friends I had determined that he had a somewhat crush on you. Were you aware of this?" he asks with a now serious face, the cop back in the driving seat once again.

"I had a suspicion of it yes." I answer simply and he continues.

"Were you also aware that in the 2 weeks leading up to his murder that many of his friends and family observed him using stalking behaviour to follow you around both inside and outside of school hours?" he asks and my gaze hardens a bit.

"I only learned of this a week prier to the murder." I say in a formal tone through my gritted teeth. How could it have taken me a whole week to notice that he had been stalking me?! I am so getting Sasuke to do some sense training methods when we get home!

"I see. So how come you did not report this to the school." He asks and I calm myself enough to stop grinding my teeth together.

"Simply because my family would have then found out and would have flipped on him." I said calmly and the detective flips his pad which he has been scribbling on while we have been talking before asking his next question.

"But according to what other have said, you live on your own in an apartment near your friends. So what do you mean by family?" he asks.

"Well I have two members of my family who are still alive but I wish that you keep then a secret from the staff and students if you could." I ask and he gives a short nod. "They are my cousins Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha." I say and he frowns at me.

"Those two? But they look nothing like each other and besides the three of you have different last names. So how did that happen?" he asks and I let out a sigh at having to explain.

"Well my parents were Sasuke's aunt who married Naruto's uncle but both of them ended up dead so I got put in an orphanage and well you all know about the Uchiha massacre and well, Naruto only had his mom and dad who died. So yes it's just those two and they a bit overprotective of me." I explain calmly.

The truth is that the night of my parent's murder, Itachi brought me to the orphanage and when they opened the door to him there was a full moon shining behind him, which is where he got the idea for my last name. He told the woman that my name was Nicola Luna and to look after me before he disappeared.

After that up until the Uchiha massacre he would come and visit me and Naruto (who was also in the same orphanage that I think Itachi planned it all) and he would talk about what we were and who are families were. He was the one who first taught Naruto how to turn into a fox and that's when I found out that I was human. Because I couldn't turn into anything. But Itachi used to say that one day I would me glad of my humanity and to this day I can think for the life of me why. But I suppose I might one day.

"Ok well that explains a lot...." I hear the detective mumbles to himself but I pretend not to hear as he goes on with the questioning. "So, did you know the victim personally then?"

"No I only ever spoke to him once and even then I quickly ended it and went on my way. I only ever would see him sitting looking at me in maths." I reply and he scribbles it down on his notepad before closing it shut.

"Well I think it's almost time for school to end so you better be off beck to your friends." He says standing and I follow suit.

We both stand and he opens the door for me and we both step outside of the room where he sticks out his hand for me to shake it but I just smile and turn to walk down the corridor.

"Well it was nice speaking to you miss Luna. Be careful out there now." He calls and I turn and give him a short nod with a small smile. I then give him a small wave before continuing down the corridor towards the main hall where we were told to go after our interviews were over.

I step into the hall and immediately spot the guys sitting on the dinner desks near the fire exit doors at the back of the hall. Though I blink to find Arisu missing and as I walk towards them they all see me and wave. I raise my hand to wave back when suddenly I'm lifted and swung round in the air as my feet fly off the floor. I feel my ribs threaten to crack and I let out a gasp under the pressure. Somehow I knew this would happen when I ended up being the last to be interviewed.

"NICKY!!!!" Arisu screams so loud that I clasp my hands to my ears to block her out as she stops and finally places me on the floor and her hands on my shoulders.

Good thing she remembered to touch cloth and not skin so I didn't get an overload on the senses. But my ears are ringing and I feel as if I might never hear a thing again. After a moment of deafness I hear her voice come back in a loud but quieter tone as she bombards me with questions. I open my eyes that had shut due to her screaming and see the others arrive.

Sasuke manages to shut her up with a quick look that says 'she doesn't really need this right now' and she shuts up rubbing her head sheepishly. I let out a sigh of relief and let my hand fall from my ears as we all walk back to where they were sitting on the tables at the back of the hall.

"You ok Nick?" Naruto asks and I nod in response.

The four look at each other and then back to me. After an awkward silence Sasuke is the one to ask the question on there minds.

"So what happened in there?" he asks with a cool but concerned expression on his face.

I let out a sigh at this and seat myself on one of the tables, letting my legs swing freely over the edge. I then take a deep breath and tell them all the questions he asked, I even mentioned about how the victim used to stalk me and how I told the detective about how Sasuke and Naruto were my cousins. To say I was in trouble was an understatement, but not for the family thing; for not telling them about the stalking.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell us that guy was stalking you?!" Sasuke growls at me a hard glair plastered on his face which is mimicked by the one on Naruto's. While Hinata looks a little shocked and Arisu looks worried for my safety and the boys sanities.

"Come on Nick! Don't you trust us?!" Naruto adds in and if I wasn't in so much trouble I would be so proud that the two of them were getting along for once.

"Because of what you two are doing right now!" I say standing and facing the two with a glair of my own firmly in place on my face. I don't usually argue with these two because of how they both are usually to busy fighting to fight with me so I don't intend to back down. This is out first fight and I intend to win it.

"The two of you are so overprotective so do you think I would tell you about something like that!" I growl at them my anger rising by the second. "I was keeping the poor boy alive! A lot of good that did him because he gets killed anyway! But you know what! At least I can say that I made sure that my family wasn't suspected of his murder! So don't you two dare start shouting at me from keep the both of you out of trouble!!"

The bell rings and I turn and open the fire exit doors before walking out of them and disappearing into the crowd of kids racing to get out of the school as fast as they can. I walk fast and the sound of their voices calling my name fades as I walk out the school and down the city streets letting my feet lead my way, not caring where I end up.

I glare holes in the ground as I walk and try to forget about the two family members I have. How could they shout at me when all I was doing was saving them from turning into killers!? Those two make my blood boil!

I come to a stop as I bump into a familiar door and look up at where I have lead myself. A smile comes to my lips as I read the name of the place and open the door by typing the pin number into the code reader on the door. The door clicks and I push open the door and step inside 'The village hidden in the sound' where I work of a weekend.

The sent of fresh raw meat hit my nose and I take a deep breath of the familiar scent that clings to the place. I take comfort it the familiar odder and walk down the hall into the freezers. I open the door and walk through the tentacles of plastic into the sub-zero room. My breath comes out in gray wisps of smoke and I walk over to the furthest corner of the room where a small beanbag sits snugly on its own.

The beanbag is a nice red colour that contrasts greatly with the white walls that surround it, yet it goes unnoticed and one might miss it if there not looking for it because in a morgue, people look for bodies, not beanbags.

I smile down at it before settling down into its squishy comfyness with a content sigh. This is the seat which I sit in when my bosses work on the bodies. My job is just to clean and usually prepare the bodies for autopsy.

The boss and owner of this place goes by the name Orochimaru. He is a tall thin man with long, greasy black hair that he always wears down and eyes that are rimmed purple with eyeliner but are yellow with slit pupils that give him the image of a snake. I find it quite funny when people first meet him and their draws drop at the very sight of him. Though, it doesn't help that he has an abnormally long tong that has the habit of coming out to lick his lips when he lays eyes on a dead body.

Some think that he is a necrophiliac, which is why he is working at a morgue, but I know that's not true. He is, after all in a serious relationship with the only other member of staff that works here and I do not wish to discuss how I found out because that was a very embracing incident for me which has thus made me come to understand that I never want to become an adult, ever.

This person and Orochimaru's right hand man is called Kabuto. He is in his early twenties with a average height and build. Although his hair is silver, (like detective Kakashi's. But it is actually a genetic condition that is harmless and apparently Kabuto was born with it so I assume the detective was as well) he still looks young and even with his glasses he still manages to draw a few yearning gazes from the female population, and Orochimaru of course.

Ever since I found out about the two they come to confide in me about how there relationship is going and even ask me for some advice once and a while. I am the only person that knows about the two and have to often give them a hint to cut the physical contact when they are in public view together.

Even though it's illegal to hate those that choose to be in a relationship with one of the same sex, it doesn't mean that people won't treat them like scum, and so the two keep themselves a secret from the world. That's why there are only two people who work here and not more, well there's me but only because they are getting too much work to handle and needed a hand.

I remember they day I first met the two of them and how I came to work there in the first place.

* * *

_Flashback._

_I walked, the others along our usual rout to the park with the sun shining down on our backs with a soothing warmth. A small breeze blew down the street and made me pause to sweep my bangs from my face when something catches my attention from the corner of my eye. I turn my head to see a help wanted sign in the morgue that we pass to get to the park._

_I examine it and think about it for a while. A job would be good and I would have more money to spend on things I want for myself and not the things I need to buy because of a certain group of young werecats and werefoxes bringing their kill' home every full moon._

_With a small through I place my hand on the door handle and shout after the others "Hey guys! I'm just going to take a look inside so I'll meat you later!" which they all shout back with 'okays' and 'alright' as I walk inside the doors of the morgue._

_The bell above the door rings and I walk up to a desk at the other side of the small waiting room that consists of a small table with magazines from last year scattered about on it, a few chairs for people to sit on, a desk with a computer and a swivel chair behind it. Behind the desk was a single door which I presume lead to the morgue beyond._

_I walked up the desk and as I was about the ring a small bell on the desk the door behind it opened to revile a young man with shockingly gray hair and eyes rimmed by glasses. He was wearing a while lab coat that had a few splatters of blood on it that made me think I might have come at the wrong time._

"_Hello. What can I do for you young lady?" he asks as he gives me a small smile that seemed to be genuine._

"_Well I want to inquire about the sign in the window." I say gesturing too said sign with my hand which causes the man to chuckle a bit._

"_No offence but this job is a bit to harsh for some young lady to do. I suggest trying the shop down the street, I'm sure they are looking for a new girl to help them with things over there." He suggests kindly and I screw up my face into a look of degust at the thought which makes the young man laugh. _

"_I'm sorry about that." I say, chuckling myself and the look of disgust fading from my face."It's just I don't like clothes shopping at all and working there just does not compute with my brain." I say tapping the side of my head which causes him to chuckle._

"_Well I can see why you came to us instead. Alright I will make you a deal." He says with a playful smile on his face and he leans over the table pointing a finger at me. "Me and my boss are about to start an autopsy on a man mauled by an animal to decide what animal caused his death if it was the animal at all. If you can get through the whole thing without fainting I will make sure you get the job. So do we have a deal, miss..........?"_

"_My name is Nicola Luna and you're on, Mr....?" I ask mimicking his tone._

"_The name's Kabuto." He says and opens the door behind in and gestures for me to go through it while he holds it open which I do. "Now let's get the party started!" he says enthusiastically which causes me to giggle at his childish behaviour._

_I nod and we walk down a long white hall towards a large metal door at the end of it. As we pass a coat rack Kabuto casually grabs one of the white lab coats hanging from it and hands it to me as we walk. I take the hint and put it on as we reach the door. Turning the handle, he opens the door and I step into a cold room._

_My breath turns to smoke with the temperature and we walk over to a table that has a human-like shape underneath a cloth. Also in the room standing next to the table is a man holding a clipboard that look up with a wide smile as we walk in._

_He reminds me of a snake with yellows eyes that have slit pupils, pale skin and long greasy black hair that hangs freely down his back. That and a long tong comes from his mouth to lick his lips as his eyes land on Kabuto and somehow I get the feeling that the two are a couple. _

_I salute them both is they are! There is no way that I think that two guys being together is nasty! Two girls on the other hand, well I would rather not think about it._

"_Kabuto who is your young friend here?" he asks in a hissing voice that makes him seem more snake like by the second._

"_I'm seeing if she can cope with the job we do here and if she can I agreed to hire her." He states and the snake man chuckles._

"_Well young lady, good luck because from what we have here today you will need it. Ow and my name is Orochimaru and it is nice to meat you." He says in a bright tone that makes me smile back, I think I like it here already and the people are certainly nice._

"_Hi, my name is Nicola Luna and like wise!" I say in a bright tone. I already feel safe in this place, though I don't know if its just because it smells like my apartment after a full moon or if its because how nice the people are being to me._

"_Well miss Luna." Orochimaru says as he grabs the edge of the cloth covering the body on the table and Kabuto moves up next to him with a cart of surgical equipment at the ready. "Let the show, begin!" and he uncovered the body._

_From then on I had my eyes glued to the body and got stuck in, literally. Orochimaru let me pull out some of the internal organs for him! It all went well, with me running round with equipment and human organs while the two men worked on the body. At the end of it we all concluded that the animal that had attacked him was a small dog and the real cause of death was arsenic poisoning which we presumed the wife had given the man to kill him and then had let the family pet eat his corpse a bit. Yum!_

_It had taken a hour andby the time we had finished my phone started to ring, it was Naruto. I quickly explained that I was in a meeting in which Kabuto then decided to shout out "Nicola put that left kidney back in the corpse right now!" and I quickly finished my call. I then chased him for a while round the freezer room while Orochimaru filled out my work contract._

_Once he finished writing it he called me over to sign it which I did. I was to work form 9:00am till 10:00pm every Saturday and Sunday which would then give me a total of£40 per week which were paid directly into my bank account. Not a bad deal at all._

_I wanted to stay longer but I had promised Naruto on the phone I would be at the park in 20 minuets and so had to get going so I wouldn't be late. The two men waved me off as I ran off down the street towards the park, looking forward to the weekend when I would start my first day of work at 'The village hidden in the sound.'_

_End flashback._

* * *

That was almost two years ago and so I have decided to take medicine at university so that one day I can take over 'the village hidden in the sound' when and if Orochimaru decides to leave it. Once I leave university then I can work there full time and earn a real living, maybe even get a real house where all of the others and me can live under the same roof!

I can't wait to start! But I will have to work hard to do it. But I know I can do it and I most defiantly will! It is my dream after all!

I then glance down at my watch and notice that its now 5:49pm and that I have just been sitting in a freezer full of corpses for over an hour. I chuckle at that thought and decide its time I was going home before Kabuto or Orochimaru find out I'm here. I don't want another interrogation today.

I stand and listen as my bones pop and crack from staying in the same position for to long. I stretch to make sure everything that can crack has before walking out the freezer and back through the doors where I came in and out onto the alleyway at the back of the morgue. This door is the staff entrance that I got the code for once I started work here and it sure beats trying to get to the door from the packed streets of a weekend by a mile.

I glance down both sides and see nothing a miss with it before walking out and onto the street where I start my slow walk home where I am sure to be bombarded with questions. As I walk I feel like I'm being followed and casually glance over my shoulder but see no one there and just keep walking. But now I'm defiantly freaked out.

As I walk to my apartment I notice a figure in the bushes outside my window and watch as the gaze of whoever it is watches the window of my apartment. I decide its best to spend the night at someone else's house and I walk quietly into the complex, up the stairs and nock on the door of the apartment next door to my own.

After a moment the door opens to revile Hinata who opens the door wider at seeing me and quickly pulls me in locking the door behind me. I chose her because she is the most understanding, and the most attentive one so would know why I chose to come to her apartment and no one else's.

"Nicola! Do you know how worried we all were?!" she says in her quiet tone that is made louder by her visible concern.

"I gathered you would be and I'm sorry for making you worry Hinata." I say with a sheepish smile that seems to calm her a bit, but not much for she still seems on edge.

"Nicola?" she begins in a scared tone. "There is someone outside watching your window. They have been there since we got back home. I didn't tell the others what I've seen because of what happened earlier, but I don't like it and I'm glad you came here instead of going home."

"I know I saw them as I sneaked in." I reply and move to the window to get a look at the person in the bushes. Their face is covered in shadow so I can't see who they are, but I'm sure that Hinata can. She isn't nick-named eagle eyes for no reason! "Can you see who they are?" I ask stepping from the window and taking a seat on the sofa.

"Yes, it's Jeremy Hitchings." She says taking a seat on the recliner next to me and I frown.

"You mean the boy in year nine that helps out in the library at break time?" I ask and she nods. "Then why would that bookworm be out at this time staring up at my window?" I ask in confusion.

"I heard that he has had a crush on you since he started going to the library when he was in year seven. Apparently that's why he got the position as the librarians assistant, so that he could go in when its our years turn to use it at break so that he could see you." She tells me and I groan in frustration.

"How many nerds have a crush on me and how many are currently stalking me I will never know!" I say in frustration and Hinata giggles at me.

"Don't worry, the nerds are harmless and won't hurt you. But you're welcome to stay at mine until they give up and move on to someone else." She offers and I smile at her with a nod of my head.

For the rest of the afternoon we talked, ate junk food and then played on the dance mat. Hinata beat me by a mile on the dance mat and after that we both retired to our rooms for the night: her to her own room and me to the guest bedroom.

She let me borrow some of her pyjamas and I quickly put them on before climbing into bed and falling into a very uncomfortable sleep.

* * *

My eyes fly open and I sit up in bed rubbing my eyes. I glance over at the curtains that are closed and walk over to them to take a peek outside. There is no sign of the nerd in the bushes anymore and I let out a happy sigh of relief at the sight of him not being there.

I look up at the bright moon in the sky that is only halfway to being complete. I open the curtains flooding the room with moonlight that sooths me into a feeling of safety. I smile at its gentle light and climb back into bed with my head turned in its direction.

I look at it for a while as sleep drifts in to swallow me into its warm depths once again. It hangs up high in the sky with the closest thing to it being the large willow tree that grows in the centre of my favourite forest in the whole entire world!

Its may silver lined branches dance with the breeze in the light of the moon. The green of its leaves seems to glow with a magical light that makes a person feel like magic could be real after all. I'm not sure if magic is real or not, but I like to believe that it is, because that would explain how I came to be able to see how truly beautiful this world is.

I let out one last yawn as sleep takes me. But the last sight I see as I fall into the dark abyss of sleep, is the silhouette of a man in black. His skin practically glowing in the moons light, making the blood splashed across his face and hands as he wipes it from his cheek look the colour of rubies. His eyes glow a haunting yellow colour with slit pupils that look up from the blood coating his hands to lock with my own eyes.

The last though as I drown in the shadows of sleep is: _"Bloody beautiful........" _

_

* * *

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**ok no one kill me!!!! *dodges poisoned kunai***

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	4. Victim 2

**Chapter 4: Victim 2**

What a complete waste of time. He spent over six hours staring at her window waiting for her to show up and she decides not to come home at all! Maybe he had the wrong address? No! That was impossible he had checked thousands of times that it was her address and besides that this was him! He was _never_ wrong!

He trudged slowly down the road until he came to the park at the end of it. He decided he was in enough trouble for being out this late so he may as well get the grounding over with so it will be over for him sooner.

He walked through the park gate and into the shadows of the woods. He held his book bag tighter to his chest as a cold sweet started to trickle down his spine and he quickened his pace in hope that he might get out quicker. The woods never seemed to end and after fifteen minuets in the place he stopped to look round and found that he had got himself lost.

"This night just keeps getting worse!" he said to himself as he looked round to try and get his bearings.

The wind blew causing an ominous whistle to sweep through the forest and he felt the hairs all over his body stand on end. Ok, now he was really freaked! Just then there was a sudden snap and he jumped with a girly scream, dropping his book bag down under some trees roots that had stuck out the ground. He whipped round to find a small rabbit sitting behind him and he chuckled in embracement.

"Jeremy Hitchings the boy scared of bunnies. Ha-ha that's a new one!" he said to himself and bent down to pet the creature but as soon as he moved it scampered off back into the bushes. "Humph! Well suit yourself flee bitten bunny."

He then noticed his bag was missing. He looked round the area until he saw where it had fallen between the roots of some tree. He let out a growl of frustration as he bent onto his knees and reached for his bag.

He lowered both his arms down towards it and turned his face to the side so it wouldn't be squashed into the dirt. He strained with all his might until he felt something cold brush his wrists. Then he felt the cold things wrap round them and with a blood curdling scream from the boy his arms were torn from their sockets with a sickening crack.

He threw himself away from the roots in terror and to add insult to injury his arms and book bag where tossed out from under the roots like someone would toss their bag onto their bed when they get home from school.

School. With no arms how would he go to school? How would he write his tests? Wait a minuet; he couldn't go home with out any arms! His mom would flip!

He then felt his entire body start to shake like an earthquake was happening inside him. He fell onto his back and shook, thrashed and squirmed around on the floor. He couldn't stop himself from doing so; his body just wouldn't listen to him.

He could feel himself crying now. Warm tears made their way down his horror stricken face and sobs retched out of his chest as he felt himself grow colder. His vision started to blur and everything just became one giant was of colour.

His body had finally stopped shaking now. He felt numb to the pain but the raw sight of red lumps that he knew where his arms lying but a few feet away from him made his stomach churn. His hearing was now gone completely. There was only silence.

His vision then went next and the last of all before he went on into the next world was the irony tang that covered his tong as blood leaked out from his mouth in a red froth.

* * *

The killer then climbed out from beneath the roots and looked at the pitiful hulk of raw meat and bone before him. He snorted at the repulsive sight and turned in the direction outwards the centre of the forest.

With one giant leap he was up onto of the tallest tree the forest had grown. I giant willow tree that towered over the rest in the centre of the forest. Blood stained some of its beautiful leaves crimson and the killer raised his head to look at the enchanting full moon as he whipped some of the red life fluid of his victim from his face.

He then glanced down at it and could not help but compare it to the colour of the hair on top of his head that was strikingly the very same colour. But then felt his mouth water at the sight before him. He felt his eyes sharpen. His teeth started to ache and he quickly glanced up away from the foul, black hearted stuff. He would not be tempted as so may others to fall prey of the life that flows through scum's veins.

His eyes looked up and locked with half closed blue ones. Her eyes. They shimmered like diamonds too him and where brighter then any star in the sky. Those eyes soon closed to his dismay but he then thanked that they did so; for he did not wish her eyes to look upon him. He was her silent protector. Her black knight in the darkness that surrounded her and he kept her safe from the demons within it.

He would prove that he is not as week as his siblings. That he could control the ergs inside him. Then maybe he could watch over her forever. Then maybe he could always dream of her being with him as he did every night when he fell asleep. Maybe then she could find happiness without those wishing to take advantage of her trying to poison her mind.

He could just feel it. She was the one for him. He knew it was wrong. Hell! He knew it was not right! But ever since that day, all his thoughts have been of her.

* * *

_Flashback._

_It was a wonderful night and he had just finished cleaning up after his well earned meal. It had been a feisty little fella that he had to chase for a whole half hour before he finally caught it and put an end to its sorry existence._

_He and his family had only just moved into this ton a few hours ago. It had been a while since he had fed so well and he was now feeling fresh and full of energy as he walked along an old dear trail with a skip in his step._

_He hopped that they would be able to stay in this town for a while and that his siblings wouldn't get caught again. He thought that there methods of cleaning up after a kill were rather bad but they were getting better because every new town they moved to they stayed in longer and longer. Maybe this time he might get a proper place to call home._

_The dear path ended and a smile spread across his pale face as he looked up at the star filled sky in awe and admiration. The full moon glowed brightest of all and as he walked closer into the clearing he stopped mid-step and the breathe caught in his throat._

_She had long flowing red hair that reminded him so much of the sweat blood that would be rushing through her veins. The moonlight danced around her as she looked up at it with an expression of pure bliss across her prefect pale face. Her eyes were brighter then the bluest sky and sparkled more then the wide ocean itself. The scent that came from her smelled of the forest, of the mountain air and of nature itself! It made him want to be able to burry his nose in her neck to take in it to its fullest extent._

_He then felt his heart rate speed up, his eyes sharpened and his teeth started to ache. He took a step back in shock and dived behind a tree, digging his sharp nails into its bark as he pressed his forehead against its solid form. _

_He couldn't believe what just happened! Usually he would only react like that if blood was spilt, but there was none about at all! She was only standing there! Looking up at the moon like that, looking so breathe taking............._

_No! This was impossible! The exact thing happened when his brother Kankuro first laid eyes on his mate Ino! He freak like that to at the sight of her! That and she was the same species as him! No, no no! There is no way this girl is my mate! No! No! No!_

_He took deep breathes until he felt her sigh and walk away from him. Her scent gradually faded from him and his instincts scream at him to go after her! To make her his! But he ignored them and waited until they finally fell silent before prying himself from the tree's solid frame to stand on his own. _

_He could not do it. This wasn't right! She wasn't even the same species as him! There was no way he would take her! But...................._

_What if someone tried to? The thought of it made a growl rumble out from low in his chest before he could hold it back. So he decided to pledge to protect her from those that want to take her for themselves. To destroy all those which do not truly love this girl!_

_He looked up at the full moon and vowed this to a girl he had only just seen. He didn't know even her name. But her knew she was the one and he'd be damned if someone did something to take her away from him. Even if didn't know her. He would not let anyone have what was his._

_If he couldn't have her, then he'd be damned if he let any scum anywhere near her!_

_End Flashback._

* * *

He shuck his head to shake the memory from his mind as he gazed at his angel that slept at peace in the safety of those that care for her. He would keep the promise he made to her. With one last look he then leapt from his perch into the shadows of the forest below as the moon finally began its decent from its throne up in the night sky.

* * *

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	5. Another One Bites the Dust!

Chapter 5: Another One Bites The Dust

"Aww! I'm so proud! Little Nicola finally has hormones!!" Hinata squealed as she hopped around the living room in her pyjamas with a pillow in her arms.

"I do not!" I shouted back at her with a scowl on my faces and threw a nearby cushion at the little fairy's head with full force.

She dodged it easily as I knew she would but her giggles quietened and she stopped jumping around like a little kid in a sweat shop. She then flopped down in her arm chair with a dreamily look on her face that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. It is never a good thing when Hinata starts to daydream at anytime in the day!

The reason for her sudden outburst is because I told her what I saw last night and described the guy, in my own words as 'Bloody Beautiful' which is what I first thought when I saw him last night. Then she went into a fit of giggles and babbling about me finally having a crush on someone.

But I don't! Just because I saw some sort of guy standing on a willow tree, drenched in blood, at the middle of the night, that may not even be real! She thinks that I am starting to have an interest in to opposite sex like that. But I don't!

"Well at least you're finally starting to get the mind of a werecreature if you know what I mean!" she said with a knowing smirk on her face until a pillow hit into it.

"I am not a pervert like the four of you so keep me out of your little sex club!!" I shout at her in embracement. God sometime I am so glad that I'm human, if an insane one. But human none the less!

In response to this she just giggles at me from her chair and I shoot a meaningful glair her way before walking towards the front door. I am currently dressed in the clothes I wore yesterday so I need to get some clean clothes for school today. Well a clean set of the school uniform anyway.

"I'm popping next door to get my stuff before coming back here to change." I say as I grab the door handle and open the door.

"I'll come with you then!" she says and walks up next to me smiling.

My apartment is on the left of hers with Naruto's directly opposite it and then Arisu's next to his so that hers is directly opposite mine. Then Sasuke's is on the end next to Arisu's but those two share each other's apartments because of their relationship. That and technically they can't live together until they're eighteen so they still have two years to go.

All of the others have turned sixteen apart from me and Sasuke. It's currently the end of January and Sasuke's birthday isn't until June while mine isn't until August! Not that I mind but it is something that can really wind Sasuke up because even Naruto is older then him! It's funny seeing people gawp like fish when they first here when his birthday is which of course just pisses him off even more.

I find him getting angry so funny!

Ha-ha iceman has emotions after all!

We both step out into the deserted hallway and quickly and quietly open the door to my apartment before getting inside. When we get inside I beeline for my room and quickly gather up my clothes to change into while always looking over my shoulder.

Ever since I found out that my room was being watched I have refused to change or shower in my own apartment! So I just go next door to Hinata's and use her bathroom instead. I don't even bother going to Arisu's because only one of two things could happen.

1) She wouldn't be home and so I couldn't get in to use the bathroom in the first place.

2) Sasuke could be round....................

That last point is rather self explanatory seeing as every morning Naruto is always the one that has to get them up and separated otherwise they would spend all day, well, stuck together if you catch my drift.

So every morning poor Naruto has to get shouted at by some very angry werecats and have sharp, pointy objects thrown at him. He usually ends up being literally kicked out of the apartment followed by the door being slammed shut. After a few days of the same thing me and Hinata decided to do something and now stand outside with a matrices at the ready to catch him on when he comes flying out to stop him smacking into the wall.

We would offer to take a turn for him but after the first time he refused to let us in there because of, in his own words, the 'very intimate positions' that the couple are found in when he goes to get them up. How the two sleep is a mystery that eludes all three of us.

At least Naruto and Hinata don't act like that!

Hinata was brought up in a royal line of werefoxes and so is very much conserved when relationships are concerned. But the whole thing with Naruto was what got her disowned in the first place. Yes, I said disowned.

When the two started dating they had to do it in secret because of Naruto not being of any clan but eventually they were found out, ratted out by Hinata's own little sister. I could never stand that brat! That was when her father gave her a choice, her clan where she was ignored by her own family and was only recognised when being scolded for something, or Naruto. She chose Naruto. Ever since she has been living in the apartment next to mine, which makes it nearly a year now.

Even after a year though, no one at school has guessed that anyone in out group is dating anyone. I don't see how though since they drape all over each other the whole time they're there. But then again were-anything's are always really touchy feely. I really don't know how I ended up hating physical contact.

I come back in to see Hinata twirling round my living room with her eyes closed and breathing deeply which brings a smile to my face. After a full moon they always find they're way into my apartment and so a while back I asked them the reason why. They weren't to sure but said something about my apartment being covered in my scent which makes them feel comfortable enough so that they change back. That and they said that they class it as their den in animal for because of this.

The phrase 'home is where the heart is' comes to mind.

They recon because they all care about me so much that my scent feels like home to them and so a place filled with it is like them walking into their own house after a night out when they crawl back from the woods during a full moon. I just agreed because in all honesty I think they are just too lazy to clean up their own apartments and so all come to mine so that they don't have to clean their own. Lazy buggers!

"Come on lets go then." I say tapping Hinata on the shoulder to stop her spinning.

She pouts a bit but nods and we both go back into her apartment with only reluctance on her part. Once back inside I walk into her bathroom and quickly strip off my clothes before stepping into the shower, turning the water on full blast and as hot as it can get!

I was my hair and body before getting out; wrapping myself in a warm fluffy towel that Hinata likes to invest her money in. She has great taste in fabric, I'll say that! I then dress in the clothes I got from my apartment then turn to the mirror to do my hair. I brush and dry it thoroughly before tying it up in its usual ponytail.

I take one last glance in the mirror to check that I'm presentable before making my way into the kitchen where I can smell Hinata cooking bacon sandwiches for breakfast. I step in and see her frying the bacon and I move to the cupboards where the cutlery is kept so I can set the table for us to eat.

About fifteen minutes later we are done, food eaten, plates clean and everything put away. I decide that I better meat them at school today because of what happened yesterday and so go back to my apartment after she tells me to be careful. I wash the clothes I wore yesterday and dry them off before I decide that I'm board and should probably head to school since I have nothing better to do.

So at half seven, I set out on my way to school. I quiet my footfalls as I walk past the apartments as I can hear movement coming from all of them to show that they are all awake and so it is possible that any of them could hear me and I would rather not speak to any of them at the moment.

Once out of the building I make my way down the street and past the old park that the large willow tree resides in. I pear through the trees as I pass. I wonder if that guy was real. Was he just a dream? I stop as I come to the gate that leads off into the woods and for a moment, debate whether I should go in or not.

A light breeze comes from the forest and brushes my cheeks in a loving caress and I let a smile find its way onto my face before I start down the old worn path. After a short time I spot a dear trail and decide to go off the beaten path for a change. I sometimes walk through these woods and this trail is one that I have never been down before, and I've got time to kill. School doesn't start till 8:55am anyway.

I walk slowly with lazy strides taking me further into the depths of the woods. The path is easy to follow and I'm surprised that I haven't walked down it before. But maybe the bushes in near the path have just been trimmed back so they could have been hiding it from sight.

My eyes wonder outwards into the wild that surrounds me and observe the million different shades of greens, browns and other earthy colours that make up the forests extreme display of decoration that if it were not there to be seen would surely be missed by both humans and the inhabitants of the forest alike.

The grass beneath my feet may be trodden down by use, but it still makes a small rustling noise with every step I take. I return to looking forward and observe that I have finally reached the forests heart. There is an intense light up ahead that signals a clearing which brings a small smile to my lips as I cross the boarder from brush, to field and gaze up in wonder and shock at the sight before me.

In the centre of the clearing stands the single willow tree that I can see for the apartments, the largest in the entire city. Its green tendrils dance in the wind and I am filled with a sense of nostalgia as I gaze up at its colossal form, the image of the guy from last night blossoming behind my eyes.

I step towards it carefully and gently brush its long branches out of my way as I pass underneath it. I stop before the large trunk and place my hand cautiously. After a moment my other hand joins it and I stand there for around five minuets just staring at my hands upon the old tree's bark, trying to grasp why this whole thing seems to be the beginning to uncovering something very important to me.

I then look up towards the tree's top and again, I see _him_ standing atop it. I see the blood on _his_ hands run to the tips of _his_ fingers only to drip ominously off onto the green leaves of the willow below. I see the other hand come up to _his_ angelic face and casually wipe the blood from it in a lazy fashion. I see the way _his_ eyes glow a shocking yellow as they raise from _his_ blood-stained hand to meat my gaze, as if peering into _my_ very soul.

I give my head a sharp shake and set my face into a serious one as I reach for the nearest branch and begin my climb to the top of the Willow tree. I just have to know. Too know if what I saw last night was just a vision of a person on the brink of sleep, or if _he_ was really there. If _he_ was even real at all!

After ten minuets of manoeuvring myself through the ancient tree's branches my face finally breaks through the green sea of leaves to look upon the endless morning sky. Pinks, purple, oranges and reds turn the sky into a sea of swirling colour and I climb fully out from the depths of the tree to behold it in its full glory. My lips curve into a smile and I take a deep breath full of the clean air that surrounds me.

I look in one direction and just as I can see the willow tree from my apartment, on top of the willow tree you can see the apartment complex. I glance round for any signs that a person had stud up here before me but let out a sigh of slight disappointment as I find all is right where I stand. I then lower myself back down into the tree but I stop with my head just breaking the surface as something catches my eye and the blood drains from my face.

Right where I had been standing the leaves have been compressed as If stepped on but that is not what catches my attention. It's the droplets of ruby red blood that collect on a group of leaves that I was standing on but a moment ago. This means that what I saw last night actually happened! _He_ is real after all!

But what or who's blood did he have on him? Why was it even on him in the first place? Why did he even choose to climb all the way up here just to wipe some of the red liquid from his face?

These questions race round my head as the sky gives up its beautiful colour display to the blue invader that coats the sky in its single, solitary colour. I finally decide to just let it go; it's none of my business anyway. I descended from the top at a faster speed then I climbed up it and land on the floor beneath it with a small tap. I then glance down at my mobile to see if Hinata or Arisu had checked in with me while I was up there. Once my eyes lay on the phones bright screen they widen and a second later I speeding through the woods towards school.

The time is now: 8:45am. If I don't run I will never make it on time!

* * *

I race through the streets, dodging people and a moment later the school comes into sight and I speed up. The second my foot steps over the threshold of the school gates the bell rings and I groan in annoyance before making my way to my form room where I am sure to receive a verbal lashing from my friends.

I arrive to class as one of the very first people and let out a sigh of relief as I see that my friends have yet to make an appearance. I quickly get into my seat and lean my head on my one hand, facing my head towards the window next to me as I close my eyes. I think back to what I saw last night and my eyes open to lock onto the garden clubs beautiful flower garden below. Why did he have blood on his hands? An more importantly, who's blood was it that he was wiping from his face.

I feel the air suddenly get very hot and automatically clamp my hands over my ears, eyes squeezing shut as I am suddenly pounced on by my blond cousin and blond cousin in law. The three of us end up on a pile on the floor under the desk with me at the bottom and I still keep my hands on my ears and my eyes shut. Even with this I can still hear their irritating questions hammer at my ear drums.

"Knock it off you two!" A loud, kind voice of Hinata says over their rambles causing them both to shut up.

I finally relax and sigh in relief as the two get off me. I take my hands from my ears and let myself slide to the floor while finally opening my eyes to see their worried faces. I role my shoulders and climb up off the floor to retake my seat before turning to face them.

"Thanks Hinata." I say giving her a grateful smile which she returns with a small nod of appreciation.

"Sorry Nick!" Naruto says apologetically. "We forget that you're a bit sensitive sometimes."

"Yh, sorry Nick." Arisu agrees before folding her arms across her chest. "Now where were you all last night?! You worried us all to death!" she demands causing another sigh to escape my lips.

"Just clearing my head out." I tell them. The lie is only half wrong because I was sorting my head out, but I had to do it because of them. Now the big question, do I tell them about the boy that was watching my window last night. The answer: yes. They would be mad if I didn't tell them again.

"That and," I say letting my gaze slide to the world past the window as they all turn from their positions in their seats to listen to what I had to say. "Last night I saw that geeky little boy in year nine Jeremy Hitchings was watching my window all last night."

All of them, apart from Hinata who already knew gasp in shock before becoming very mad. I give them all a warning glance before anyone thinks of committing murder. There is no need for another boy from our school to die. It would only cause a lot more trouble for everyone.

"So, how do you want to deal with it?" Sasuke asks calmly and I let out a breath I never knew I was holding. I'm glad they all took the hint.

"I think at break I'll go the library where he helps out and just straight up tell him to leave me alone." I say with a frown. For some reason I felt like the boy wasn't in school and that freaked me out that now I took notice of him I could tell if he was here or not. Damn sense of smell! That's how I knew that the others weren't in the classroom when I first walked in here.

Just then I caught a whiff of something I didn't like and apparently the others did to because simultaneously we all turned our heads to the classroom door. The spiked, silver haired detective Kakashi Hatake that interrogated us only yesterday entered the room and the whole class fell silent, including our teacher.

"Yo everyone!" the masked man said with a wave of his hand and his one visible eye turned into an upside down 'u' shape as he smiled.

"Detective Hatake?" poor Iruka said startled to which the detective turned to him, his eye now open.

"Now, now Iruka! I don't like to be call by my last name you know that!" he scolded in a voice that sounded far too friendly to be heard in a room full of children.

"Fine then, _Kakashi_. What are you doing back here?" Iruka asked a slight blush lighting up the scar that went from one check to the other across his nose. He never tells anyone where it came from no matter how much they pester him.

"Well to see your face once again of course Iruka! But also to talk to a Miss Nicola Luna about a certain person that was found dead this morning." The detective answered with the cheery tone in his voice sounding much more sinister after my name was mentioned. Ow hell!

"Ow." Iruka said seriously, the embracement pushed aside as he looked up at me from the front of the class. "Well Nicola, you heard him. Looks like the two of you need to have another talk." He said to me and his eyes held the look of sadness about them. The person must be another student, and one he must have taught at that.

"Why is Nicola the only one to be questioned?!" A fuming Naruto says having stud up at some point. Hinata pulls his hand into hers which seems to calm him down a bit, but I think he needs someone to tell him to sit down. That may as well be me.

"Sit down Naruto." I say as I stand from my seat with the whole class now focused on the two of us, but I block them out and just look into Naruto's worried eyes as he looks into my firm gaze.

"But Nick-" I starts but I quickly cut him off.

"It's ok! I'll be fine! You know I can take care of myself!" I say with a smile but my eyes turn fiery at the last statement, mentally warning him to give up before he gets hurt. He sits down with a grunt and a worried expression still etched onto his face.

I smile at my friends before making my way down to the front of the class where Iruka and the detective are waiting and as I walk I feel the gaze of every pupil on my back. Great! After five years of being invisible the human population decides during a murder investigation to take notice of me!

I let out a frustrated sigh as I get to the front to stand next to the waiting detective and just at that moment the door opens. A small imp of a lady scurries into the room and places her bag of disorganised things. The pushover supply teacher. It looks like whatever it is that Kakashi needs to talk to me about concerns Iruka as well.

"Well shall we go?" Kakashi says from his position over at the door which is held open for us to pass through.

* * *

I look up at Iruka who smiles down at me and walks by my side as we exit the room while Kakashi holds the door open for us. We then start our walk down the long corridors, Iruka and Kakashi walking side by side in silence. My lip twitches as I notice how close the two stand to each other, so close that their arms and hands, (which hang down at their sides) brush every now and then. Looks like Iruka has a love life after all!

We soon reach the room that we used yesterday for interviews and all enter. Once inside Iruka checks the windows are shut while Kakashi shuts the door and lock it behind us. I take the same seat that I did yesterday while Iruka closes the curtains before taking a chair next to me and Kakashi just leans his back against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and first finger.

"Miss Luna, I am afraid to inform you that early this morning a jogger found the body of a year nine pupil names Jeremy Hitchings." He says and I see the sad look that comes over Iruka from the corner of my eye.

My eyes widen as my suspicion of him not being at school was right. He wasn't at school because he was laying in a morgue somewhere. The shock on my face is soon replaced with a frown as I wonder if the two cases are connected, but before I register it properly little red flags where going off in my brain, telling me that yes, the two where committed by the same person. Looks like we may soon have a cereal killer in our midst.

"What was the cause of death?" I ask in a blank tone which makes the detective chuckle.

"Blunt as always I see. Blood loss from his arms being ripped from his sockets." He replies followed by a shiver from Iruka who was still seated in silence next to me.

"So, the killer likes to use decapitation and seems to be targeting teenage boys from our school. This is what I assume the authorities are presuming at the moment?" I question which Kakashi nods and I place my head in my hands as I lead them on my elbows on the table.

"Nicola, how can you be so calm about this?" Iruka asks in a quiet voice and I look over to see his faces creased in worry.

"That's simple." I state and give him a large smile. "If I don't get upset, then I can concentrate on things that are way more important then crying over a boy I never knew."

"Well he knew you it seemed." Kakashi states as Iruka calms back down. The detective gives me a knowing look and I smile sadly as I look down at my hands.

"I'm your prime suspect in the murder cases aren't I?" I say in a quiet voice as more of a statement then a question.

"Nicola! How could you think that?!" Iruka says and I look up at him with a smile.

"Well, why else would the detective here be calling me down, and the only one from my class to boot." I say and look at Kakashi who lets out a weary sigh.

"_Dun, dun, dun, dun! Another one bites the dust!" _I sing to myself in my head to keep my spirits up.

"At present I, personally believe that you could never be the killer that I assure you." Kakashi says but locks eyes with mine as he continues. "But, my colleges on the other hand are a different story. The fingers are all pointing at you at the moment and honestly it disgusts me." He finishes wrinkling up his nose making his mask crease into a million different sections.

"Well its nice to hear that at least one person in the police department has a brain." I state sarcastically causing another chuckle from the detective.

"But I just wanted to make it clear that I will find the real culprit to clear your name, that and I also want to say that the reason many think it's you is because both boys have been known to stalk you." Kakashi says and I nod.

"The latest victim I saw hiding in the bushes, with binoculars, staring up at my window so I spent the night at my friend's house." I say and this time it is Kakashi that nods.

"I asked his friends and they all said last night was the first time he was going to watch your house. He had apparently spent weeks trying to find your address, only to die the very night he did. I sort of feel sorry for him." Iruka pitches in and I scrunch up my face in disgust.

"I don't." I say and both chuckle at the look on my face.

"Well at least we have everything cleared up now." Iruka sighs in relief and I see Kakashi smile under his mask at my teacher. Ok, its time to find out what's really going on here!

"So what's the story with you two anyway?" I ask, casually leaning back on my chair and watch as Iruka's face lights up like a Christmas tree with a knowing smirk on my face.

"W-what do you mean Nicola!? M-me and Kakashi are just close friends, that's all!" he stammers with a face full of terror and I cock my head towards him with an even larger smirk on my lips now.

"_Close friends_ is it." I say, my voice dripping with hidden meaning. "The why are you blushing redder then Hinata did when Naruto first asked her to go on a walk with him?"

"I-I-I AM NOT!" he stammers loudly followed by a chuckle from Kakashi who seems to be enjoying Iruka's uncomfortable predicament.

"Well if you won't tell me." I say turning my gaze on the detective's. "Then maybe the detective would be so kind." I say to which he seems to smile under his mask while Iruka's blush is replaced by a horror stricken expression as all colour drains from his face in terror.

"My name is Kakashi so please drop the 'detective' business with me please." He says and I grin at him.

"I will if you call me by my name, which is Nicola, not miss." I say and he chuckles with a nod before walking over to the terrified teacher who scrambles to his feet and backs away at the detectives, I mean Kakashi's approach.

"Kakashi please! Don't come any closer! Stay away!" my teacher shouts in horror as he backs into a wall causing Kakashi to chuckle at him.

"What's the matter Iruka, are you scared of me?" he asks and I stand from my seat and lean against the locked door as a sort of gesture of being a guard so that no one will come in, while Kakashi comes but inches from Iruka's flushed face. The masked man then brings his head up to Iruka's ear and says in a husky tone, "You weren't scared of me last night now where you Iruka."

I can't help but giggle as Iruka turns into a human firecracker. Kakashi lets out a chuckle as he turns his head from me and brings his hand up to his mask. My eyes widen and lock as the man's mask comes down to revile his gorgeous face to me and Iruka who looks like he is about to hyperventilate. Kakashi then moves his whole body so that it pins my teacher against the wall and Kakashi's body.

"Kakashi," Iruka manages to rasp out, his eyes now half lidded. "Please, stop it. Nicola, she-" he manages to get out before he is interrupted.

"She won't mind and anyway this is natural." Kakashi states in an alluring tone. "That and I will soon make you forget that she is in the room, and that the floor you are standing on is even real."

"Kakashi...." Iruka mumbles out before his lips are captured by Kakashi's and both pairs of eyes close to fully enjoy the moment.

My mouth hangs open like a fish as I watch these two fully grown men place tonsil hockey with each other. I can't help but compare it to how Sasuke and Arisu make out. Now those two are animals and look like they are trying to swallow each other's faces while Iruka and Kakashi just look like they are trying to fuse their faces together.

I smirk as I think of how much more I know about the detective and my teacher. The bell goes for next lesson and I pretend not to hear it until I hear the sound of a zipper being pulled down and the all too familiar scent of arousal mixed with human sweet catches my nose. My eyes widen and decided that now is the best time to leave and I unlock the door before slipping out of it quietly, shutting it behind me followed by the sound of the door locking.

I smirk as I imagine what the headmistress would say if I told her my teacher has sex with his partner in her office. She would probably knock it aside as nothing, and then I imagine the look of horror as I tell her that the partner he is with is male. I imagine her rush off as fast as her heals can carry her towards her office. I let a chuckle escape me as I walk through the school hall towards my first lesson of the day.

* * *

The day passes by in a flash from the 'incident' in the heads office and onwards apart from one problem. The whole population of the school seems to have noticed that I exist all at the same time so now I get stared at wherever I go. The girls with envious glairs while the boys with looks of awe. I guess I might be attractive after all, hum, who knew!?

The last bell finally rings and I hurry outside to see the sun already setting behind the horizon. I love winter! Longer nights and shorter days! That and it also means that at a full moon which just so happens to be tonight, I get to come along to the forest for the whole evening while they hunt! I love it!

Not only do they go straight home on nights like this, so I don't have to clean up once they decide to finally leave when the sun comes up, but I get to have a fun night out as well! Like last month! I found this awesome field that lets you see all of the Milky Way up in the sky! It is near the centre of the woods, so quite secluded and it is also on a hill which one side has trees stretching as far as the eye can see! Then on the other side, at the bottom of the hill near the tree line, there is a stream which can be seen running off into the forest beyond!

I can't wait to spend all night star gazing again! That and I felt like I was being looked over for some reason, but the feeling was anything but unnerving, quite the opposite in fact! The feeling made me feel safe and protected for some reason. But I wonder if it was the field itself, or something else all together.

As the five of us walk into the path the scent of five males catches my nose and I suppress a groan as my brain puts faces to the five guys following us into the dark forest. The five of them have been following me since form this morning. It seems they want to try their luck on, but luckily for all of us, they have hung back while my friends are around.

"Well this is it!" Naruto says jumping in the air with enthusiasm. The electricity in the air is currently making him this way and I smile as he gets himself pumped up. Tonight should be a good hunt for everyone.

"You sure you will be alright out here on your own?" Hinata asks for the hundredth time today and I wave her comment off, telling her I will be fine before the couples walk off into the night in separate directions.

I take the opportunity to stretch my muscles and role my shoulders causing them to pop as I release all the tension from them. I hear the boys who followed me start to advance and smirk as I sprint off into the night at full speed for once.

I run for only a minuet before coming to a stop to which I almost fall over. I love running flat out! I let out a contempt sigh as I hear the confused scurrying from behind me some ways back as the boys try to find me. I giggle as I imagine them scurrying around like rats trying to find out where I am.

But then the scurrying stops and the air goes cold. I frown and wonder why they stopped that is until the irony scent of blood flows past my nose from the direction that their scents are coming from. My eyes widen and I dash back in the direction I came in. It only takes a moment but my mind speeds up as a million scenario play out in my head at once.

But the ones in my head are nothing like the real thing as I stop dead to stare at the five corpses strewn on the ground before me. All five have been separated and mixed up, the wrong arm and leg with the wrong head and mangled torso. Torn cloth is scatted over the scraps of meat, all that remains of my class mates.

I tear my gaze away as I start to run away from the horrible sight. I don't run because of the blood, or because of the state that the corpses are left in, but because if I stay there to long I know I will have more of a chance of leaving evidence of my presence of be being there. I don't need the police to have anymore evidence that indicates that I was the murderer.

I run blindly through the foliage until I feel the air open up around me and I find myself in the same field that I had discovered last month. A sigh escapes me as I collapse on the grass incline that slopes up to the top of the hill in the clearings centre. I look up at the star filled sky and clear my mind, letting the images I just saw slip from my mind. I close my eyes as the moonlight caresses the skin of my face, making my emotions calm.

I may not be a were-creature, but it doesn't mean that I don't like the feel of the full moon on my skin. I love it! It makes me feel like I actually belong. I frown then as I feel that the presence from before is no longer there, even with the full moon above me I don't feel as fully safe as I did the month I found this place.

I sit up and look up towards the top of the tree as clouds block the moons soothing light. I then get up and walk to the very top of the grassy hill. The night is so dark I can't see and it takes me until I'm mere meters from the river bank to notice a shadow crouched down beside it. I stop and watch as a small slither of moonlight illuminates the river and the waters are flakes with crimson snakes that flow along with its current.

The moon then clears itself of cloud and I watch in awe as the shadow stands and turns to face me. I must be dreaming, but a dream wouldn't be this breath taking! All blood washed from his hands he stand gazing into my eyes as I gaze into his own alluring golden one, his pupils just as slit as the first time I laded my eyes on him.

Water droplets hang from his crimson locks and his pale hands. His expression is one of shock as he looks at me in silence, seemingly taking me in just as I was taking him in. He wears normal blue jeans with black trainers while his upper half is in a black t-shirt, covered by a leather jacket which he wears open despite the sold night air.

The feeling of safety and comfort comes over me as he observes me and I realise that he must have been here that night last month as well. That and he must have killed those boys tonight, along with the other two before them. But why? I feel the erg to ask him and my mouth seems to betray me as it opens by itself.

"Why did you kill those boys?" I ask in a soft voice, a frown appearing on my face.

He opens that angelic mouth of his to speak but is interrupted by a hissing coming from behind me. I turn to see Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke and Arisu all glairing and hissing at the guy in front of me. They are in their animal form but I can still hear the tone of anger in his voice as Sasuke barks out a command to be.

"Nicola, get out of here quick! Run!" he says glancing at me for a moment before turning back on the angel standing by the stream. "This guy, he's not human."

I turn back to the guy in front of me, my back to my family. I frown as the compulsion to defend him washes over me, but I bite my tong to keep my mouth from speaking without being told to. _"So if he isn't human, just what is he then? Why does he make me feel this way? I hope Hinata isn't right and I've gone and fallen in love with some guy I haven't met............."_**Woop woop!**

* * *

**Longest chapter so far!!!!!! XD**

**Hehe i'm sad i know! ^_^**

**hope you all like it anyways!**

**Rate and review please!!! XD**


	6. Victims 3 to 7

**Chapter 6: Victim's 3-7**

He moved through the twilight forest with the ease of a predator that is at home in their own territory. He had woken early tonight so that he could see if any other potential threats were dealt with as soon as possible. He was on his way towards the forest edge where he would see her pass by on the route home from school as she had every day this week, well, apart from yesterday. He still had to look into the reason for that change of route.

A scent caught his nose and just as it always did, his eyes sharpened, his heart sped up so much he thought it might jump right out of his chest, and his teeth started to ache for the scents source. It was _her_.

_She_ was here! He could barely believe it! But the worst part was that she wasn't alone, she had company. He glared at nothing as the four other scents swirled around her own, a quiet growl coming from his throat as he recognised that two of the scents were male.

He quickly made his way over to where the five were walking and stayed just far enough away that he would go unnoticed, yet still be able to hear what they were saying. He kept his eyes on the trees that moved as the grouped moved while he walked a few feet in the trees beside them and listened to the conversations that they were having.

"Are you sure that you will be fine hanging out here most of the night by yourself?" a quiet and concerned voice asked. He sniffed the air that came as she spoke and recognised her as the shy, raven haired girl that lived next door to _her_. This girl was a close friend.

"Don't sweat it Hinata! I will be fine I promise you!" an angelic voice said soothingly to the shy girl _she_ walked with. This was the first time he had ever heard _her _voice.

It was just as he had imagined, yet a million times more potent as he felt his heart speed up once more at the very sound of it. It reminded him of twinkling bells as she carelessly laughed off her friends concerns for her in place of caring for her friend. As selfless as he imagined her to be. Her voice sounded confident, as softly spoken as she was but with an air of power that was all her own and it made him see her in a higher light, truly an angel from heaven above.

"I know you've said that, but I can't help worrying about you, especially after what happened in class today. God! Its like the whole school saw you for the first time today!" the shy girl said in awe, her voice raising only to be followed by a grown from the friend beside her, causing a shy giggle to bubble out the little raven's mouth.

"Don't remind me." His angel groaned and he imagined her hand over her eyes as she tried to suppress the memory from earlier that day. "Did you see the looks that I was getting? Animals, every single one of them! I will never know why on earth people are attracted to the human male species. Filth! Filth is what they are! The girls aren't much better, the entire female population at the school glared at me today, and for no reason! That's almost five years of invisibility down the drain!"

He heard what she said and growled at the comment on how she hated today because of how people suddenly decided to notice her. Looks like he would be spilling a lot more blood in the times to come is this kept up.

"Don't sweat it Nick!" A cheery new voice entered the conversation now and he recognised her as another friend. The loud blond with blue eyes that _she _hung around with. "Just stick with us and those bastards won't lay a finger on you! After all, you happen to have the schools two strongest, fastest and hottest guys on your side! Right guys?"

"You bet!" A happy male voice spoke and he recognised the scent to be another of _her _friends, the blond boy with the whisker marks on his cheeks that always seemed happy to see his friends. "If one of those guys lays even a hair on you I swear I will beat the crap out of them!" The blond declares with a surprising amount of venom in his voice that is followed by a fox-like growl.

"Not if I beat you to them dope." A stern, yet quiet voice growls at the fox boy's comment. He also recognised this one as another of _her _friends. A raven haired boy with eyes of coal that would always be fighting with his fox like best friend whenever the two boys were together.

"Don't forget me and Hinata! We would take on the girl's if they are mean to you so that double trouble!" the blond girl adds with gusto.

"Thanks everyone. But you know I can deal with it myself, it is my problem after all." His angel says in a caring tone that expresses her appreciation at the comforting words of her friends.

He felt his attention shift as a wave of five scents entered the woods, five_ male_ scents. A growl came from his throat as he heard the five boys follow the group deeper into the woods until they stopped and parted ways, leaving _her _all alone.

He crept closer now that her friends were gone but didn't look at her and instead focused his gaze on the five teens that were walking towards her with lustful intent in their eyes. A growl came out his throat before he could hold it but he heard the popping of muscle from his beloved's direction and then the sound of the wind being whipped aside as someone ran.

He chanced a peep at her and saw that she was gone; she had obviously known the males were following her. A deadly smirk spread across his pale face as he saw the group look round fore their target who was long gone by now. It seemed his angel wasn't just beautiful, but has the brains, senses and the speed to back it all up.

He stepped into the shadows of the tree's that encircled the group. There were five of them, all seemed to be sixteen and here fore the same purpose; _her_. Well, there plans just changed for the worse.

"_I won't let any of you live to see the light of day for daring to even think of touching her you foul human filth."_ He thought as he stepped out of the tree's shadow and behind one of the five boys.

With inhuman speed he grasp the upper part of the poor teen's arms and pulled them back so fast it was like one second he has arms, and the next they were gone. The teens eyes widened and he didn't wait for the boy to realise what had happened and quickly decapitated the boys legs, throwing his arms towards the rest of the group who were turning towards their friend after hearing the sickening snapping and tearing that arms make when torn from ones body.

The boy was dead before his head bounced off the ground and the boys watched in horror as their friend died right in front of them. They opened their mouths to scream but the sound never came out and they all froze when they locked eyes with the predator's glowing yellow eyes.

He smiled at them as he saw there shocked, immobile state. He then stepped over the corpse, cracking his bloody knuckles as he ripped them apart one by one as their child long friends watched in stunned horror at it all.

He never spoke as he killed them all; their deaths were not painless to say the least, but quite the opposite. They all died in agony. That was just how he wanted them to feel, to feel the agony he felt when he saw them try to take _her_ from him when he himself could never possibly be with her. How could _she_ love a monster like him?

Scattered their limbs around to make the human's job of putting them back together even harder then it already would be. Call it cold, but he saw that it was indeed called for. Human were horribly annoying creatures in his opinion. Well, all save his angel.

He turned from the hideous scene before him and rushed to the clearing nearby, which just happened to be the very same one that he first saw _her_ in. It took him only a few moments to burst through the tree line and bounded up and over the grass covered hill to the stream that lay the other side of it, where he could clean the foul stench of those week human males from his hands.

He crouched at the streams bank and plunged his hands into the icy water, watching as swirls of red came from his hands as the blood was washed away. He rubbed his hands together to help remove the horrid liquid from his fingers and cupped the water in his palms, before bringing the coolness to his face.

He watched the red stained water drip from his face and again splashed it with yet another handful of water from the stream. He then washed the remainder of red from his hands and with one last splash removed anything remaining of the ruby substance from his face where it had splashed across as the human's limbs were torn at their seams.

He remained crouched there as he let the silence seep into him. He let his tense muscles relax and rotated his shoulders to get the sourness out of them. He never liked crouching in wait for long periods of time because when it was all over he would always have horrid, inhuman popping and cracking sounds come from his back as he relaxed them.

Just as he began to feel his anger seep away he felt his eyes sharpen and inwardly groaned as the aching started in his teeth and his heart rate accelerated to an almost constant humming sound in his ears.

Why! Why of all people did _she_ have to find them first! Then had to run into the same place that they had first met, the same place where he was now. He didn't want _her_ to see him like this! He didn't want _her_ to see him at all! He was never supposed to even exist as far as _she_ was concerned.

But he knew it was too late as he felt the breeze blow her scent, which was now so strong he had to hold himself ridged to keep from doing something to her. He didn't want _her_ of all people to get hurt because of him. He could feel her gaze land on him and heard her sharp intake of breath as the moon came from behind the clouds to relieve him from the shadows, to let her see him.

Seeing no point in running he decides to stand and face her for the first time, and the last if she was lucky. He stud, keeping himself stiff and turned to face her, the water he used to clean himself clinging to his crimson hair that resembled so much the blood that he had spilt earlier that night.

He gazed at the look of confusion and curiosity on her angelic face. She wears her school uniform with her own adjustments. She wore her white shirt untucked with the bottom emerging from under her black v-neck jumper. Her black trousers met black boots as a small breeze made the green and blue tie that hung out of her pocket dance in the wind. Her blazer was still on and her black school bag still hung across her front from its perch on her right shoulder.

"Why did you kill those boys?" she asked in a soft voice, a frown appearing on her beautiful face.

He opened his mouth to answer her but words clogged in his throat. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't tell her that he did it because if he couldn't have her, he wasn't going to let anyone else get there hands on her!

Four scents then drifted across on the breeze and he felt a small sense of relief for the couples saving him from speaking, but felt a larger sense of annoyance at their presence appearing just when he was going to try and make the most of probably the only time he would ever get to meet his angel, face to face, like this.

A hissing came from all four of the creatures that appeared behind his angel, an aggressive and protective posture visible in each of them. There was a pair of large cats, well the size of panthers with teeth to match, and a pair of foxes that were just smaller then the cat couple.

The male cat had jet black fur to match his jet black eyes, the raven haired boy that his angel was friends with and who she had been with but minuets ago.

The female cat was of a bright blond colour with dark blue eyes that totally contrasted to the appearance of her mate that stud beside her. This was the loud blond girl that his angel was friends with and whom had gone off into the woods with the raven haired boy earlier.

The larger of the two foxes had bright yellow fur and sparkling blue eyes that gave him a very shocking appearance, even for a fox. The smell of raman coming from him was a blatant sign naming him as the fox-like boy that was with his angel earlier and whose loud voice could be heard from miles around.

The last of the fury four was a vixen, slightly smaller then her mate with a dark coat that seemed to shine a purple/blue as the moon hit it as the male cats did also. Her eyes on the other had where pure white without a pupil to see out of and yet those blind eyes could indeed she what was around them as the four animals fixed their gazes on him.

His angel turns so that she is able to keep an eye on everyone so the side of her face is now at his pleasure to view and her eyes lock with that of the four werecreatures before her, a slight shocked expression appearing on her glorious face.

"Nicola, get out of here quick! Run!" the human voice comes from between the male cat's fangs as glancing at her for a moment before turning back on the unknown demon standing by the stream. "This guy, he's not human."

She turns back towards him, her back to the people she knows in favour of looking at him, a mere demon. She frowned as the compulsion to do something appears in her eyes, but she seems to think better of it and holds her tongue.

After all this time, he finally got to meat his angel face to face. But he never expected that the two of them would have company, especially not of the fanged, fury and bloodthirsty kind.

"_Life's a total bitch sometimes."_ He curses in his head as he readies himself for anything. The one good thing that has come out of his short life, being able to deal with whatever shit it throws at him.

* * *

**Ok the next chapter is finally up!!!! ^_^**

**It took forever cause in the middle of writing it I decided to do a oneshot! (love comes out to all my reviewers on 'Puppet of a Puppet' you all rock!!! XD)**

**So it took longer then I would have liked.**

**Hope you like it so far and keep on reading!!!**

**Rate and review pweeze!!!!! XD**


	7. Kidnapped!

**Chapter 7: Kidnapped!**

"Nicola, move. Now!" Naruto growls his order from the fox mussel of his, his crimson eyes never moving from the angelic figure which I can tell was male, who crouched in front of the glistening stream.

He adjusts his stance slightly, preparing to be attacked. I look down at his hands as pink water drips off his fingertips ever so slowly. I watch the way he stands motionless, ready to fight, but oddly enough, I feel his eyes on me.

The moonlight shifts to revile him and he steps back slightly so that he is half in shadow. I was finally able to get a proper look at the creature whom I had been teased about, and who our entire small village was looking for. His hair was as crimson as the blood he had spilt, but his eyes were not glowing yellow as I remember, but where now shimmering emerald orbs that looked at my face as if to imprint it into his mind. The moonlight made his pale skin nearly transparent and I couldn't help but think that my skin was a close, if not even match to that of his.

"Nicola," I hear Naruto call and looked down to see that he had come up beside me.

His golden fur brushed my fingers and I scratched behind his ear getting a small whine from the fox. Out of the corner of my eye I could still see the others poised and ready for something to kick off. Hinata watched her mate with worry at his closeness to the murderer.

"Something has changed." He stated and I looked down at him with a frown. He looked up, locked those crimson eyes that were supposed to be the same as mine on my face. "Something has changed about you."

"What are you on about raman guzzler?" I hear Sasuke's voice snarl from behind us.

"What I am saying duck but," he replies. How the two love to call each other names, I guess it's their way of showing each other that they care. "Is that Nicola seems to have found an interest in the... person over there and I feel as if we should keep him alive for the time being."

My jaw dropped. I stared at him wide eyed at his statement. My action was much the same as everyone else's in the clearing, even the killer's.

"That is impossible!" Arisu shouts. "There is no way our innocent little Nickling would take any interest what so ever in a killer! Right?" she finishes but I stay silent. "Right Nicola?" she repeats and I sigh, rubbing my temples.

"How about we all go somewhere else before Detective Hateke decided to have me in for questioning, _again._" I say and everyone seems to nod.

Naruto regions Hinata and the two couples walk off towards the woods. I start after them but stop and turn the see the guy in the same position as before.

"All means you as well you know." I say and I see his eyes widen.

He opens his mouth to speak, thinks better, and then closes it and just nods. We walk after them with him following me and myself keeping him in the corner of my eye in case he does a runner. We walk into a small clearing near the edge of the woods and see that everyone is back in human form, but are still as tense and poised for a fight as ever.

"Okay Naruto," I say turning to face him with my arms crossed. "Spill it. What is this all about?"

He looks at me for a moment, then to the guy behind me, then back to me. He pulls Hinata a little closer to him, his had wrapped round her waist, as in taking courage from her closeness. I guess whatever he is going to say, he is in for a shouting match no matter how he will put it.

"Well, seeing as we cannot have anyone else dying around here, how about we let you take charge of our little friend here." He says gesturing with his hand.

Everyone blinks.

"W-what?" Arisu stammers.

"Well, the only thing that all the boys had in common was Nicola, so she seems to be the motive for the killings. We all know she hasn't done anything though and now we know who the real killer is. So how about we let her keep an eye on him, so that he doesn't kill again? What do you think Nick?" he finishes, and then all eyes fix on me.

I blink. He wants me to babysit a killer? Well, not babysit, more like watch. I don't think you would be able to babysit a guy like him. I glance over at him, he has a confused expression on his face, and his brow furrowed and is looking at Naruto. I then look at Naruto who is looking at me with a grim expression.

"I don't think this is my call to make." I say finally after a pause for thought. "It's not fair to just decide thing about someone's life without consulting them first."

I glance back at the person I am supposed to stop from killing. I don't even know his name and yet I find myself outright defending him from my family, well, half of it anyway. He blinks at me, frowns, and then blinks again. Finally a small heart-stopping smile flickers to his lips for a second, but is gone the next. I could feel my heart skip a beat in that one second, then go on a running sprint all on its own. I turn to the others, embarrassed.

"You want to ask a _killer_ what he thinks about being kidnapped and held prisoner by a little human girl?" Sasuke hisses in anger.

My mood sobers and I glare at my cousin, making the fact of my Uchiha blood evident. Itachi would be proud of me as Sasuke's eyes widen and he takes an abrupt step back. I step forward to match his pace. An Uchiha death glare is legendary for a reason after all.

"Yes, I want to know the opinion of my captive. Is there a problem with that _Sasuke Uchiha_?" I say with as much malaise as I can muster. He should know by now that I am not to call me 'a little human girl'; he is getting what is coming to him.

"No." He chokes out, regaining some composure and I nod, anger fading before turning back round to my would-be captive.

"So?" I ask him, "What do you think?"

"I think that the fox over there is correct in his analysis of me." He says in a velvety tone. "If you were to keep a watch over me, I think that I may be able to control myself a little more. So I agree to the kidnapping and imprisonment, but on certain terms."

Everyone seems shocked apart from Naruto who has his famous foxy grin plastered across his face. I look at this person, really look and see the determination in his eyes. He has already decided what he wants to do, and be damned whoever gets in his way from doing it.

"Great!" Naruto says stepping up next to me, with a worried Hinata following closely beside him. "So then, what are these conditions of yours?" he asks.

"First off, that the two of us are to live under the same roof, which will be a place of my own choosing." He says holding up one finger. Sasuke goes to shout but is silenced from a look that Naruto gives him. "Second, that I am to be enrolled into your school and into all of her classes so as to keep," he pauses. "To allow her to watch me closely. And finally, if there should be any reason I should wish to commit another murder, I will do so, but only if she permits it." He finishes and looks Naruto straight in the eye as he does so.

"It's a deal." Naruto says, smiling and gives me a small wink. "Well, I guess seeing as we are going to be spending a lot of time together, we should be properly introduced. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Nicola's cousin." He says grinning.

"I'm Hinata Hyuga, nice to meet you." Hinata says in her quiet tone, half hiding behind Naruto as she introduces herself.

"Hey, my name's Arisu." Arisu says in a forced happy tone and fake smile.

"Sasuke Uchiha. Nicola's cousin from the other side from that fox." He says gesturing to Naruto. "OH and you so much as lay one finger on her and I will break every bone in your body." He finishes, giving a look that says he really means to carry out his threat and would be happy to do so.

"I'm Nicola. It's nice to meat you..." I say, drawing it out.

"Gaara." He finishes for me.

"Gaara, right. It's nice to meat you Gaara." I say smiling at him and he gives me a small one in return. I hear Sasuke hiss behind me.

I sigh at my cousin's obvious hatred of the situation. Although, now that I think about it, it could be fun to see him show himself up at school like this. I wonder just how far that Uchiha pride of his would let him go?

"Well then," I say, looking at the orange stained sky. "We should get out of here before the police arrive."

Everyone nods, agreeing with me and we walk out of the gate nearest to the clearing in silence and walk down the street towards our apartments. Once there we all stop in the corridor. No one want to be first to speak, but we all heard the deal and everyone knows that this will be the last time I come back to my apartment for a while now.

"How about I wait here with your family while you go get your things?" Gaara says and I turn to see him giving me a kind smile that makes my face heat up.

I nod and rush into my apartment and straight into the bathroom, turning the cold tap on and cooling my face with the water from it. I let out a loud sigh and look at myself in the mirror. I steal myself, and then reach for the wash bag I keep under the sink and fill it with what I need. Then I go into my bedroom and pack as many clothes as I can, uniform included, into the holiday bag I keep hidden under my bed. I also throw in my school bag, sketch book, school books and notes, my scrapbook and the photos I keep at the side of my bed.

The first is of my parents on their wedding day, just the two of them together smiling. The second is of Itachi holding me when I was little. The last is the one I like the most, it is all of us, me, Arisu, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata all squashing into the photo while one of us held the camera that one day that we decided to go to the beach. I smile as I remember how cold the water was and how the sand would burn your feet if you didn't keep moving them.

I shake my head, clearing the memories, remembering that everyone is waiting out in the hall. I finished packing and come hurrying out of my apartment into the tense atmosphere of the corridor. Everyone is tense and Arisu has a firm grip on Sasuke's arm to stop both him, and her from attacking our poor captive. Hinata is still holding Naruto's arm while the raman fox stands slightly blocking the other couple's path. Gaara doesn't seem to nervous and just stands silently, an impassive look on his face.

"Sorry I took a while." I say and the ice melts a little.

"It's fine." Naruto says smiling at me then turns to Gaara. "So, where do you intend to make your cage at?"

"At an apartment, above a business owned by one of my dad's old friends." He says.

"So, scum like you have family then." Sasuke snarls.

"Yes, actually we do. And there is another two of my family out there if you really would like to know." He shoots back with a glare.

"Are they going to be angry that you don't show up?" Naruto asks a hint of worry in his voice.

"No. There is no danger to any of you, they know where I'm staying." He says.

"Will they show up?" I ask and he turns to me smiling.

"I hope not, but they will eventually." He says, it calms me, but only a little.

"Well, we should go then." I say.

He nods and I look round my family. Arisu and Hinata give me quick hugs before I go and I stand saying buy to Sasuke so that Gaara can make it to the stairs at the end of the hall. I wave as I walk to where he stands and then we walk down the stairs in silence. We walk out onto the street and down a multitude of roads that I find oddly familiar with the root of. Finally, we stop at the back doors of a building and my jaw drops.

"Your dad's old friend was Orochimaru!" I say, shocked as I stand at the door to my workplace.

"Yes, he is." He says as he walks in and I follow. "Also, it is a place you don't feel to threatened in right?" he asks with a small smirk on his face.

"Yeah, I guess." I mumble, blushing while trying to hide it by looking at my feet.

We walk through the corridor in silence which continues as we make out way up a flight of stairs at the end of it. I glance round at the rooms along the hallway at the top of the stairs in a curious manner. I've never been upstairs before and I feel the scent of my boss and his assistant waft up my nose. I turn to a door across from me and smile sweetly at it, knowing the two are in there sleeping soundly.

"This way." Gaara says quietly and I turn to see he has opened a door that reveals another set of stairs that lead up to the loft.

I nod and follow him as he climbs the stairs. The door shuts behind me sending us into pitch darkness. I place my hand on the wall next to me and slowly climb the stairs. Even with my senses I still can't see a thing without some sort of dim like so I'm walking blind. My hearing is useless as Gaara walks so silently I can't hear his footfalls as he climbs in the silence.

I pout to myself as I climb until I hear the sound of a key in a lock just in front of me that makes me stop. There is a click, then the door swings open, without the creepy creaking that some old doors make I'm happy to say. The dim light of the moon allows me to finally see where I am as I follow Gaara inside the moonlit room.

It is a large space with one large window opposite the door that has large, thick, black curtains that hang at either side of it. There is a door to my far left which I presume leads to a on sweet bathroom and further along the wall a large wardrobe stands against the wall, stopping just before it reaches the wall with the window. Opposite the bathroom door sits a large, king sized four poster bed. It looks Victorian in style and the wood that frames it and the black sheets upon it match the black fabric that dons the cover of the window seat. The bed even has dark, silk like curtains hanging from it, like those I've seen in the Mickey Mouse version of scrooge. All around, the room is beautiful.

I glance at Gaara to see him smirking at me and I shoot him a small glare. The door then shuts silently behind me as we stand in silence. He walks over to the window seat and sits down on it, still looking at me and pats next to him, a gesture for me to sit down. I clutch my bad strap tightly and walk round the bed to sit on the side nearest him, not obeying him, but not completely trying to ruffle his feathers.

He sighs to himself before chuckling at me. He obviously thinks that my little act is amusing. Really, who is supposed to be the hostage here! I'm starting to think that maybe I might have bitten off more than I can chew, no pun intended.

"Tell me, did you really think that you could keep me hostage?" he asks, a light, mocking tone to his voice.

"I didn't have that intention, you can do what you want, but only not kill anyone else." I snap back. "That's the only reason I'm here."

He chuckles again and stands. He is in front of me in a second and I bite my lip so I don't gasp in surprise. He leans down towards me so our faces are inches apart, his one hand on the bed beside my leg and the other on my face. I try to push the blush creeping up my neck down as I glare into his ocean green eyes.

"And how does that stop me. All I have to do is kill you." He says his hand on my cheek moving to rest on the side of my neck over my pulse. "Then everything would be as it was before and I could kill anyone I wanted to."

I force myself to remain still and try not to respond to his electric touch that is sending shivers through me and push down the velvety softness of his voice that drips with some emotion that I've never heard before.

"I don't think you would kill me." I say, looking him in the eye. "I have no doubt that you could, but you won't."

"Hum." He hums that reminds me a lot of how Sasuke sometimes purrs when he is teasing Arisu. "You may be right; I won't kill you but then again."

He says and suddenly my bag is on the floor and my back has sunk into the silken sheets of the bed. My hands are pinned at my sides with two larger hands lacing their fingers into mine. My legs pinned together by a pair of strong legs that straddle my waits. My eyes widen in shock as Gaara smirks down at me, his face so close I can taste his cool breath as he pins me down so quickly that I didn't even see him move.

"I could always just torture you into so much bliss that death would be a gracious mercy." He finishes with a dark chuckle.

I try to free my hands but I can't pull them away. I wriggle and strain against him as much as I can but he has me at his mercy. He's right, I'm not the one in control here, he is. I stop struggling and settle for just glaring up at him, a growl escaping my throat that brings another chuckle out of my captor and I feel the vibrations ripple through his chest that hovers just above mine.

"Now, now. None of that." He says, still smirking. "I don't plan to hurt you tonight." His eyes wonder from my own to my throat.

I see his eyes shimmer in the moonlight as they turn into a pair of golden orbs, the pupils slitting. His mouth parts slightly to revile a sharp set of canine teeth and I notice once more how breath taking the moon makes him look. It makes me wonder if the sun would shine on him so kindly.

Another chuckle comes from him as he bends his head so that his spiky, red locks hide his eyes. I frown at him for a second. Wasn't he just about to bite me? Why did he stop? And what is so damn funny?

"You really are a strong one." He says and I'm taken aback the sudden compliment. "To be able to render someone like me, someone who is trying to run from what they are, back into a mindless beast. Yes, indeed you are strong."

He rolls off me to sit on the bed beside me, releasing my from his grasp. I lie there in silence pondering his words, running them over in my mind. I sit up to see him looking out at the sun that has risen enough that the moon now floats in a sea of blue before finally disappearing behind the horizon.

"You should get ready for school. It starts in a few hours." He says, still looking down at his feet.

I pause of a moment and look over his hunched figure and decide it would be best if we both had a moment to ourselves. I nod my head although I'm not sure if he can see it and walk into the bathroom, taking my bag with me and locking the door behind me. I let out a sigh and let my bag drop to the floor, pressing my back into the oak door for a moment.

I quickly undress before stepping straight into the shower, turning the water on full blast and as hot as it will go. I feel my skin burn at first as the water pounds into my body, but it soon fades as the steam swirls up to cover the entire room. Another sigh escapes my before I scrub up, washing my hair and body before stepping out and getting ready for the day.

I dress in my uniform, brush my teeth and dry my hair before putting it up in its usual ponytail. I look at my reflection in the mirror and smile. I then look down at my hands on the sink and my smile fades. My wrists have turned purple from the struggling I did earlier and only now do I see how much trouble I'm going to be in when everyone sees this at school. I sigh for what seems like the hundredth time this morning.

I put my dirty clothes in a black bag and shove them into my large bag. I take out my school bag and sit on the floor of the bathroom sorting through my school bag. I giggle at myself as I picture how utterly stupid I must look sitting on the floor of the bathroom shifting through a large bag with books scattered all around me.

I take out any books that I won't need for today, then reach for the books I do need in my larger bag and place them into my school bag. I tidy up everything from the floor and put all my wash things away, then stand. I stand and turn to the door. I stare at it. I glance down at my watch to see I've managed to drag out getting ready to a shocking hour of my morning. Another sigh.

I glance up at the bathroom door and get ready mentally to see him again. Although, he might have slipped out when I was in the shower. That's wishful thinking on my part. I straighten my shoulders and reach for the door handle. I take it with my right hand while my left hand reaches for the lock just above it. I pause. I unlock the door and turn the handle, pushing the door open as I do so.

He isn't on the bed anymore, but leaning against the wall next to the door. Not blocking it, but he may as well have been. He is wearing the boy's uniform and has a rucksack for his own schoolbag. His eyes open as I walk out and meet with my own. The shadow of the drawn curtains means that I can't see the look on his face, but I'm certain he is smirking at me.

"Let's go eat then." He says, moving from the wall and opening the door.

I nod and walk over to him. A metre from him he descends down the stairs and I follow. The door closes behind me and I glance at it. It really is creepy how it always closes behind me like that. I turn back to the stairs and find that I reach the bottom of them quicker than I reached the top of them earlier.

Gaara opens the door and steps through into the hallway. I follow. The smell of toast and coffee hits me as I step through into the hall and my stomach rumbles loudly. A blush covers my face as it does and I here Gaara chuckle at me.

We then walk back down the stairs and along the corridor to a part of the shop I have never been before. We walk to a light room that the smell is coming from and Gaara casually steps inside. I pause at the door though and blink at the scene.

Kabuto in an apron. Not just that, a frilly pink apron! What the hell is the world coming to! He is at the toaster buttering some toast as another two slices burn. Orochimaru sits at the kitchen table nibbling on a piece of toast as he reads the morning newspaper. Gaara has taken a seat opposite him and is reading the same news article as Orochimaru is, only upside down. My boss and his assistant look up at me standing in the doorway.

"Good morning Nicola." Orochimaru says smirking at me with a knowing glint in his eye.

"Morning." Kabuto says nervously as he rams his apron into the nearest cupboard in embarrassment.

"Come on." Orochimaru says, gesturing to the seat next to him.

I quickly glance at Gaara, see he isn't looking at me and quietly take the seat next to my boss, and as far away from my _hostage_ (or captor, I'm really not sure which after what has happened). Kabuto smiles kindly at me as he gives me two pieces of toast which I thank him for.

Orochimaru seems to get annoyed at the fact that Gaara is reading his newspaper and folds it up. He then throws it at the boy's head which is caught by a pale hand. Gaara thanks him and opens the paper, reading it while Orochimaru fumes silently.

Kabuto places some toast next to the newspaper for Gaara then sits down next to his boss with his own breakfast. Of toast again of course. Jesus, there is too much toast eaten in this place! I go back to my own burnt bread and eat it in silence. The other occupants at the table however do not wish to let this last.

"So Nicola, Gaara tells us that you will be staying with us for a while." Orochimaru says smirking at me.

I cough. "Looks like it." I mumble, taking another bite of my toast.

"So, which room do you want to stay in?" Kabuto says frowning.

"She is staying in Mr 'highschool murderer's' room." Orochimaru says chuckling.

"Oh no she isn't!" Kabuto says, standing up angrily. "She is not to sleep in the same room as him! What if he takes advantage of her?" he fumes.

I stay silent and finish my toast. With nothing else to do I simply look down at the table frowning. Would he do that? And what exactly does Kabuto mean by _take advantage of me_? Does he mean Gaara might bite me? Or does he mean that Gaara might...

"Like I would be that sick. I'm a killer, not a rapist." Gaara snarls back.

I guess Kabuto was referring to the later meaning. I glance up to see Gaara glaring at Kabuto with a disgusted look on his face. Not fazed, Kabuto glares right back at him and growls at the killer right in his face.

"Well, that isn't the only problem you bring into this house fang face." Kabuto growls.

"If she wishes to keep my little murder-spree under control she will stay in my room and like it." Gaara snaps back, throwing a quick smirk in my direction.

"Don't you threaten her! She can do whatever the hell she-" Kabuto rants but I place my hand on his and squeeze it to make him look down at me.

"It's fine Kabuto, really. I already said that I would so please don't fuss over me. You're not my mother you know." I say giving him a gentle smile.

A small blush covers his cheeks with a shocked expression on his face and he glances at Orochimaru who is chuckling. He then looks at Gaara, who is looking at me and blinking in a confused manner. Finally he sighs to himself and flops down in his seat, arms crossed across, a pout on his face with a loud huff.

"Well, now that all that is settled," Orochimaru says standing up and gathering the plates, "shouldn't you two be on your way to school?"

I blinked and glanced at the clock to see he was right. I stand, grabbing my bag and walk to the door. I wave at Kabuto, who is still sulking and say bye to Orochimaru then leave the kitchen and head for the back door I entered through earlier after Gaara bought me here. I reach for the handle of the door but a pale hand is already turning it.

He is so close. How does he move that fast? And I didn't even notice it! I feel an unwanted blush cover my cheeks and watch as the door swings open, but I make no move to step out through it. His arm stays in front of me and slowly pulls back. The hand then rests itself gently on my shoulder.

"We should go." His velvety voice whispers in my ear and I feel a shiver go down my spin.

"Y-yeah." I stutter and step through the doorway.

Why did he do that? Why would he get that close? He sounded like he was teasing me. That pisses me off! It isn't my fault! He just embarrasses me somehow! That pisses me off two that he can get a rise out of me so easily! Bastard! And how did I go from kidnapping him to the one being kidnapped in the first place?

* * *

**Took me a while but it is finally up!**

**Hope you like it! =**

**Rate and review please! XD**


	8. First Day

**Chapter 8: First Day**

"_I really hate this bastard!"_ I think to myself.

Usually my walk into school is blissfully uneventful and calm, peaceful in a way where I feel I may be able to get through the day. Not today. And it's his entire fault!

I sigh as I listen to the murmurs and whispers of those around me as I walk through the gates and into the main yard, and keep going. I dare not stop and I dare not take my eyes off the office door. I try to keep my mind fixed on that to block out the sound of the chatter. I feel like every eye is glued to me, and an accusing gaze every single one of them. Though that just might be the paranoia setting in.

The reason for this unwanted attention walks calmly next to me. An impassive expression on his face and his hands placed inside his pockets in a casual manor. Bastard! How can he be so calm when he is put under a magnifying glass and being observed by the entire population of the school? It pisses me off that I have to walk round with him all day. He went and managed to get into all off my classes and not only that, he was planning on following me round all day with the excuse that he does not know where to go!

I sigh as I push the office door open and step inside. Another sigh escapes me as the door shuts and most of the school yard's chatter is shut out. We walk up to the receptionists desk and I let Gaara ring the bell to get her attention from her very important conversation on the phone about Jamie's new boyfriend. I roll my eyes as she stammers a goodbye at being caught not working.

"Hello there, what can I help you with young man?" She says, batting her eyelashes at him in a flirty manner.

I hold back the erg to gag and settle for just rolling my eyes at her. Really, was he that attractive? Well, I can be accused of that myself, but it was only my own thought. I certainly didn't try and flirt with him! That and I know he is a bastard! I can't believe I was nice to him when we first met! Yet another reason why I shall not be a happy lady today.

"I just start today and would like my time table please." Gaara replies in an indifferent manner.

"But of course." She chirps and with a few clicks on the mouse of her computer the printer gives a loud groan as it prints out the time table. She then hands it to him and I can see her try and make their hands brush. But he takes the opposite end from her hand on purpose seeing as he has to reach over almost the opposite side to which is closest to him and takes it from her. I see a pout cross her face as he thanks her and turns away, eyes never making contact with hers.

"Lets go then." He says glancing up at me.

I glare at him and walk down the corridor towards our form room. I could tell that this was going to be one hell of a long day.

I sigh as I open the door and step inside. I thank whatever God there might be that the classroom is empty so I won't have to do any awkward explaining just yet. I walk over and take my seat next to the window. I see Gaara shut the door as he steps inside and looks around the room. He then looks up at me and smirks.

Bastard!

And just as I thought he would. He slowly walks up to where I'm sitting, pauses for a moment giving me a wider smirk, and then sits down in the seat right next to me. Arisu's seat. He is doing it on purpose to start a fight! He _has_ to move!

I open my mouth to tell him to move but stop at the loud voice's burst from the corridor and into the classroom as the door opens. My face pales as Arisu walks in while arguing with Naruto about something. No one reacts at first and stand at the front of the class talking. I shrink down into my seat and prepare myself for the inevitable.

Sasuke looks up at me. Our eyes lock. I smile at him and his eyes hops one seat to the right. A glair spreads over his formally calm face. His eyes turn read and a hiss rushes from between his teeth as he walks towards me. Shit.

Then everyone looks over at us. Arisu looks at me. Then at Gaara next to me. The sense of death fills the room and I shuffle my chair as close to the window as possible and cover my ears to shield myself for when she blows.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY SEAT SHITBAG?" she shouts storming over to us, red faced in anger and with a second fuming cat next to her.

"I never recall seeing your name on it." The fool next to me informs her in a calm and mocking manner.

"I _always_ sit next to Nick and just because _you_ are here does not mean _you_ can sit next to _her_." She says between gritted teeth.

I can see that he is about to say something that will make things worse. I do not want to be the cause of a fight on the first day. A shouting match I can handle. An arrogant bastard, I can handle. But Arisu in a fight, I will not even try to handle. So I do the only thing I can think of. I uncover my ears and lean in next to Gaara, putting my hand next to his ear so as no one else will hear me.

"Sit in the seat in front of me, please." I whisper and he jumps, literally and lands on the table staring down at me startled.

I frown up at him in confusion. There really was no need to jump up in the air just because I whispered in his ear. If it was something embarrassing I could understand, but it was totally innocent! He nods, taking the hand that had automatically shot up to cover his neck and letting it fall to his side before jumping down to the row in front and sitting in the seat in front of me just as I had asked facing directly forward so I can't see his face.

"Thank you." Arisu chirps happily and sits in the seat next to me, smiling in triumph.

Gaara mumbles something under his breathe before putting his chin on his hand and gazing out of the window. I sigh. Catastrophe averted. I smile and turn to Arisu who is glancing between me and Gaara with one of her devilish grins. I frown and decide not to ask.

"How long were you two alone for?" Sasuke asks me, not looking at Gaara and I can see he really is finding this hard. Oh well, he is a sweet over-protective twat at least.

"About two minuets." I say.

"And after you left with him last night?"

"Half an hour at most."

"You're still a virgin right?"

_WHACK_!

"Ouch! You didn't have to hit me." He says rubbing his face where my school bag just collided with it.

"Of course I did," I say sitting back down and putting my bag under the desk, "you implied that I would ever let myself be taken by someone I've just met. Oh and by the way, who I choose in the end is none of your business."

"Well I will just take that as a no." He says letting out a sigh and sitting next to Arisu, putting his face into the crook o0f her neck in a rare display of relief.

"There, there." Arisu says patting him on the head, "Nick is fine, so don't worry so much."

I hear him mummers something and smile at the couple, they really do look cute together. I look at Naruto who is chucking at Sasuke while Hinata is keeping a suspicious look on Gaara who is still looking out the window. The two then walk over and take their own seats. A sense of normalcy seems to return as the two couples chat and the topic sitting in front of me seems forgotten, that is until the door opens.

A large group of girls walk in and immediately hone in on the new presence in their form. I pity him I really do, but not that much that this still won't be fun to watch. The girls squeal and rush up to him, blushing and bombarding him with questions.

But the bastard doesn't even flinch! He continues to look out the window with a bored expression on his face. It's like he can't hear them at all! But then one of the girls' moves to touch him, he pays attention to the girls then. His head whips round and he frowns down at her outstretch hand which has frozen a couple of inches from his shoulder. His eyes then travel to the girls face.

"If you don't mind, I don't like being touched. Not by anyone." He says, glancing round the group of silent and shocked girls.

I hear Naruto burst out laughing and Arisu soon joins him while Hinata chuckles. I even giggle a little bit at the shocked girls but Sasuke remains indifferent, his eyes gazing at the red haired boy with a suspicious look in his eyes.

The girls then see to come alive again and glance around. His point made, Gaara turns back to gazing out the window. The girls seems to be about to say something, but just at that moment our teacher walks in and ushers the girls back to their seats.

"Nicely done." Naruto says, leaning across our table to Gaara who turns round so he is sitting on the side of his chair.

"Thanks, I think." He says.

"Well they won't give up it seems." Naruto says chuckling and gesturing to the girls in the class who have their eyes pinned to the mysterious new student.

"Great." Gaara says in a sarcastic tone.

"You don't seem to be very good with girls." Hinata states. "Have you never been to a mixed school before?" she asks and we all listen up.

"Actually, this is the first time I have been to a school ever." He says.

"Really?" Arisu says, quite shocked and he nods.

"Bummer." Naruto says, "So, you think you're going to be okay?"

"I should be fine. My adopted farther was a very good teacher so I think I can keep up." He says.

"Is he the one who knows Orochimaru?" I ask curiously.

"No." He says, looking away. "Orochimaru knows my biological farther."

"Your real dad a dick then?" Sasuke asks bluntly.

"You could say that." Gaara says chuckling and I hear a round of sighs from the girls watching us. "You're a sharp one."

"It's my job to be."

"I shall keep that in mind."

"Feel free to."

"Well where is your dad now then?" Arisu asks.

"My real dad is dead." He says. "My adopted dad is currently in hiding so I don't know where he is."

"Oh." She says blinking. I don't think she was planning on getting any information so easily.

"So, what exactly are you guys anyway? I've never seen anything like you before." Gaara asks.

"Well you've heard of werewolves' right." Naruto says and Gaara nods. "We are werecats and werefoxes, so the same sort of thing in terms of abilities, only different animal spices."

"And what about you?" Arisu says, "What kind of freak of nature of you?"

"You would know me as a vampire." He says and a click goes off in my head. Damn, the guy almost drank my blood.

"But none of the victims were drained of blood. Well, there was a lot of blood lost, but it was all there." Naruto says confused and Gaara scoffs.

"Like I would put that shit in my mouth." He spits out.

"But don't you drink blood?" Arisu asks.

"Not human, I've never touched the stuff." He says and I blink.

"Don't you ever feel the erg to bite someone or something like that?" Naruto asks.

"Only one." Gaara says, glancing at me.

"Who?" Sasuke says glaring.

"Not telling." Gaara states.

"It's my cousin isn't it?"

"Maybe."

"Isn't it?"

"Maybe."

"Isn't it?"

"Maybe."

"ISN'T IT?" Sasuke shouts slamming his hands on the desk leaning over towards Gaara, fuming in anger.

"I did tell you that I wasn't going to tell you." Gaara states calmly, matching my cousin's glare.

"You fucking bastard." Sasuke hisses.

The whole class is watching us now. It is not everyday that the Sasuke Uchiha loses his cool and he certainly never shouts. This was not going very well and if something wasn't done this was going to end badly.

"Sit down Uchiha." I say, shooting him a glare, he knows how I hate attention.

"The hell Nick, this guy-"

"I said," I say glaring up at him, "Sit down."

We gaze at each other for a moment, it feels like a tightly pulled line may snap at any moment and everyone seems to be holding their breath. Finally he breaks eye contact and flops down in his seat sighing. He leans his head back and runs a hand through his raven locks with his eyes closed.

"This is so fucked up." He mumbles to himself.

"No. Only you." I say and he shoots me a look. "You are the only one freaking, so done come with that look. I am not a child, any problem of _mine_ I will solve _myself_; I don't _need_ any help from you."

He stares up at the ceiling then sits up on his chair and stares down at the desk. His face is a sad one. I know it must have hurt him, but it was true. I'm not a child and so I don't want him to treat me like one anymore. I'm fed up of always being protected. Sasuke is the worst when it comes to that, though I guess when someone you have protected from bullies, adults and the world in general asks you to just stop, it must be a shock.

"I know." I hear him whisper and then looks up to me with a heart-breakingly sad smile on his lips. "I'm sorry. I won't freak out again. Your right."

He then turns from me and the tension dissipates as the other class members talk with one another. I look away from him and bite my own lip. Shit. I wasn't expecting _that_! How am I supposed to move on from that? The bell then goes and everyone gets up for first lesson. After a moment I also stand and notice Sasuke has already left for his lesson with Hinata and Naruto, leaving me, Arisu and Gaara to go to art.

Arisu puts a hand on my shoulder and smiles at me. I force a small smile and we start to walk. Gaara hangs back this time and walks behind us. I silently thank him for it. i really don't need anymore drama right now. That look of Sasuke's is enough for me.

* * *

We reach art and sit down at a table we usual sit on out own on. It is two normal desks placed together, long sides together and we sit opposite each other like we always do. Gaara walks in and stands next to the table after getting a sketch book from the teacher. He glances between the two free seats, seeming to judge where to sit.

He seems to actually be trying to consider our emotions as well as him own feelings at the same time. That's, kind of sweet. I smile at him and with my pencil tap on the stool next to be to take the amusingly torn look from his face. He looks at me in shock for second then smiles at me and sits down next to me.

"Okay class." Our art teacher says. "For a break from paints, I want you to sketch a creature or human, but making it seem supernatural."

He finishes and sits down while all the class gets out their pencils and sets to work. I tap my pencil for a second in thought. So many ideas, after all, the supernatural is my best talent when it comes to art. I glance over at Gaara to see he has already sketch a human shape and is adding the layers from the basic sketch. I also notice his eye flickering to me every half a minuet or so. Odd, but then again so is he.

Arisu on the other hand is straight in there with coloured pencil, shading in as she goes and has a wide smile on her face. I smile at how childish she looks when she is really into the picture she is making. It must be really good if her tongue is sticking out the side of her mouth between her teeth like it is.

I sigh and glance down at my own paper. Not a line on it. I twirl a piece of hair between my fingers and try and decide on an idea to stick with. Finally I smile and decide on what I want to sketch and happily set to work. I sketch the base line before grabbing the coloured pencils to add in more detail, colour and shading.

"Okay, all finished." Arisu says and I look up to see her beaming proudly at me.

"Lets see then." I say as I finish off the last coloured shadings to my own picture.

"Hey, you want to see it to?" she asks Gaara.

"Sure." He says, seeming to also be finished with his own picture which I can't see because he has his arms laid gently covering it.

"Okay, here it is." She says holding up her paper. "It is sand rabbit!"

I cover my hand over my mouth and turn my head to the side to try and cover my giggles. Arisu also giggles as she beams, while Gaara glares at the picture as if he might burn it where it stands. The image is what she said, a sand rabbit. It is a white rabbit surrounded by desert with sand swirling round it, but this isn't what makes it funny. What makes it funny is that she has made it look like Gaara! It has a tuft of spiky red hair on the top of its head, the kanji symbol for love over his left eye and sea green eyes enclosed by dark circles. It really was his splitting image.

"That isn't funny." He states glaring at the picture, but more so at its artist as she puts it in her bag.

"Sorry but I just couldn't resist it, the image just came to me. I won't draw another one I promise sand rabbit." She says followed by another round of giggles.

"Anyway," he says choosing to ignore her, "What have you drawn Nicola?" he asks.

I then lift up my own picture which brings an 'aww' from Arisu and a smile from Gaara. It is a picture of a chibi Arisu and Sasuke who have cat ears and tails (they are neko chibis!). Arisu is trying to read a book but Sasuke has her by the waist and is munching on her ear while Arisu blushes and looks shocked by him.

"It's really good." Gaara says smiling and I feel my cheeks heat up.

"Yeah! And it is so cute!" Arisu says in a high pitched voice.

"Thanks. Now it's your turn." I say turning to Gaara.

He looks hesitant for a moment, but then nods and lifts up the picture. I hear Arisu gasp loudly and cover her mouth with her hands in a shocked manner. My own eyes widen as I look at his piece of art.

He has drawn a girl dressed all in white, her skin glowing like a fairy in the moonlight and she sits on a large rock, feet dipping in the waters of a large lake as she gazes up at the sky. She is truly beautiful, but this is made even more so by the two large angel wings that spread open from her back. But that isn't where the shock comes from. The shock comes from the pony tail where her red hair cascades down her back, and the piercing blue eyes that resemble the sky so much. The shock is, she looks like me.

"Wow." Arisu breathes out. "Its' beautiful. I always did wonder what Nick looked like in a dress."

_Bam_!

"Ouch! That hurt Nick!" Arisu whines as she rubs her shoulder where a sharp pencil had hit her.

"It was meant to." I say giving her a glair before turning back to Gaara. "Err... can I ask you something?" I say nervously.

"Go ahead." He says in a calm tone.

"Is she meant to look like me?"

"Yes."

"Why did you draw me like that?"

"Because it just popped into my head."

"Oh..."

"Don't you like it?" he asks, seeming to hesitate in his calm for a moment.

"No! No! Of course I do!" I say nervously, waving my hands in front of me. "It's just a picture I never would have been able to see myself in."

He smiled at me then, the purist I had seen on his face since we met.

"Thanks. I'm glad that you like it." He says in a velvety tone.

Then the bell rings for next lesson and saves me from further embarrassment. I quickly pack my things, as does everyone else and we make our way out of the classroom and to the gyms outside the main building. There are two gyms that are side by side and connected together by the main gym where both boys and girls have their lesson, the two gyms are mainly changing rooms, the girls on the right and the boys on the left.

We wave goodbye to Gaara and wish him look before walking into the changing rooms. We walk in and go to our gym lockers where we keep out kit and see Hinata already sitting in the bench beneath our lockers fully changed. The gym kit for girls is a t-shirt with a leotard beneath it (with the option to wear shorts over it which Hinata does) and trainers of course.

"Hey Hinata." I say waving at her.

"Hello." She says as we get our kits out our lockers. "How was first lesson?"

"Great thanks, you was yours?" Arisu says as she puts her t-shirt on over her leotard and sits down to tie her laces.

"Okay I guess. Sasuke was still depressed though. But I think P.E will be the best way to cure it." Hinata says.

I look down at the floor as I slip on my shorts (I also chose to wear shorts over the leotard like Hinata does) and hope that what Hinata says is true. I don't want to see that hurt look on his face again. I sit on the bench to put on my shoes just as Arisu finishes with hers.

"Defiantly with Naruto to compete with." She says giggling.

"Well ready to go?" I ask after finishing with my shoes and standing up.

They both nod and stand up with me. We talk as we walk outside onto the large field at the back of the gyms that we use when the weather is nice. The boys are already outside and we walk over to the stands at one side of the running track and sit near the top to watch them jog round it to warm up.

Arisu talks the most and waves over at the boys who all wave back (minus Gaara who just looks bored) and when I say all, I mean _all_. Everyone male stops jogging and waves up at her. Though, she is one of the most attractive girls in school, so no surprise there, that and she doesn't wear shorts over her leotard. Showing lots of leg apparently goes down well with guys.

Sasuke and Naruto also wave back at us but still jog round the track and then start a conversation that seems pretty peaceful. Not for long I bet. The teacher blows the whistle and all the boys jog over to him. He is a tall man with a black bowl hair cut and bushy eyebrows. He also wears a green leotard (he is a Kenilworth teacher) and is big on youth, just like the mini-me of his that stands beside him, eyes sparkling with 'youth'.

The leotards are usually for girls, but boys also have the option if they want. Lee (the mini me) is the only one. Every other boy wears the white t-shirt and shorts that are the same as the girls. They are both white with the school's logo on the left hand side in the colour of your house. So mine and the rest of my family + Gaara have a blue logo.

"Alright! Time to show of your youth and impress the girls' lads!" the teacher Guy cheers. "So fifty laps round the pitch and the first back wins!"

Everyone groans apart from Lee who pumps his fist in the air and starts a monologue on the power of youth. But the boys do as Guy said and start to run round the track that lines the pitch. Arisu cheers Sasuke and Naruto on as the two are in the lead trying to pass each other in a race with each other. But also Lee is running with them, still ranting and Gaara is looking bored as he also runs next to them.

At this point all the girls are watching and cheering for their favourite guy. So mostly Sasuke and Gaara, with a few Naruto. Some jump up and down in excitement when the boys pass them and I'm sure the girl lying on the bench just fainted when they just past her.

I sigh at all the fuss that's being made over a simple running exercise. My mind starts to wonder off and for the first time since art I take a good look at Gaara in his P.E kit. I blush as his pale skin gleams in the light and how you can see the muscles ripple in his legs as he runs. Although the t-shirt is baggy on him, every so often it lifts a bit and I catch a glimpse of toned abs. It is sort of surprising considering how lanky the bastard is.

He must have felt me looking at him because as they come up to the corner to turn into the length of track that runs past the stands he looks up at me and our eyes lock. My breath locks in my throat as he looks directly at me and smirks. My cheeks heat up and he then gives me a wink before turning back to look ahead at where he is running.

His pace then quickens and he slowly passes Sasuke and Gaara who are two busy arguing as they run to notice. But as he moves in front of them they do. A loud cheer rises up from the Gaara fangirls as he moves into first place. Naruto and Sasuke blink, look at each other and a look passes between them. They both smirk and quicken their own paces so the three are together again. Then its like tug-of-war how the tree battle for first place and it seems get a little bit carried away as they pass Lee leaving him puzzling over the three in a dust cloud.

"Come on Sasuke!" Arisu cheers now on her feet.

"You can do it Naruto!" Hinata chirps in, bouncing up and down on her chair in excitement.

I sigh as I listen to the girls cheer. It must be nice to be able to cheer for the guy you like and now that your voice makes them run faster. At the sound of their voices Sasuke and Naruto smile and speed up, slightly passing Gaara who glares at them. He then glances at me, cocking his head as he does it.

What? Does he want me to cheer for him?

I turn my head to the side but still keep our eyes locked. It would be amusing to see Gaara win and Sasuke and Naruto freak out over it. Also it might increase the competition. Not only that but, I think it would be nice to not be the only one not cheering for once. I sigh and look straight at him, turning my head back to face him.

"_Bastard. Just win already." _I whisper quietly so as no one can hear me.

But it seems he does as his smirk widens and he closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath, not slowing his pace as he does so. His eyes then open and his speed increases so that he is in front of Naruto and Sasuke who try and catch up to him in response. The girls cheer louder and I fold my arms across my chest and try to quench the blush from my cheeks.

Who would have thought he would hear me? Or that he would take what I said seriously. They come up to the last lap and sprint for the finish. Just before reaching the finish line, just as his foot is about to step over it, time seems to slow down. He then looks up at me any smirks.

Then time returns and the girls cheer as the boys stop running, Sasuke and Naruto panting while Gaara stands calmly, breathing normal by appearances. He smirks at the two panting boys who galre daggers at him, not yet able to speak.

"Wow! I wasn't expecting that!" Arisu says.

"Indeed." Says Hinata.

"Hey, lets go comfort them shall we?" Arisu says, gesturing to Sasuke and Naruto.

We both nod and stand up. The tree of us then walk down the stands stair to the bottom but are stopped when a group of guys stand in front of the bottom of the steps. Most of the guys just gave up and watch the three, plus Lee who also finished. The smile up at the tree of us and I roll my eyes at them. Hinata and Arisu fanboys, joyful.

"Hey girls." One of them says. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"Err, yeah thanks." Arisu says.

I roll my eyes again and jump over the seats in stead and land in front of the first row of chairs at the stands. I turn to the girls and wave smiling at them and they glare back at me. Yep, sometimes it's good to be the invisible one.

"H-hello Nicola." A voice says and I turn to see two nerdy looking boys standing smiling at me.

"Hey." I say.

"We were wondering actually if you had a group for the biology project yet." The braver of the two asks.

"Well, I think I have one person that I'm stuck with, but that it why?"

"Well, would it be okay if we worked with you?" the other asks, both with a hopeful gleam in their eyes.

I blink. Shit! I forgot that I'm a nerd magnet! How did I not notice they were my fanboys until now? I really need to stop hanging round Naruto so much, the denseness in catching! I open my mouth to make up an excuse when an arm wraps round my shoulder and cuts me off.

"No that's, we should be fine on our own." Gaara says, glaring down at the poor nerds.

Both are shocked and stammer for a moment in panic before quickly saying bye and leaving in a hurry. I blush and push his arm off me and turn round. Naruto and Sasuke walk up to us, a pile of beaten-up boys behind them and the girls in their respective boyfriend's arms.

"You didn't even know about the project, why did you but in?" I ask, annoyed.

"I didn't like it." He says and shrugs.

I frown at him. That's not an answer. That is avoiding giving an answer. Stupid lanky bastard! And after I cheered him on as well! But I guess he did save me from a nasty situation. But landed me into another. I glance round to see the newly formed Gaara fanclub glaring at me as if they could make me burst into flames with their eyes. I gulp; they are even scarier than the Sasuke fanclub.

"Nice job running." Arisu pips in and we both turn to the group.

"Thanks, though it was no big deal." He says, shrugging.

"No... Big... Deal..." Naruto says seething at him.

"Yeah, speed is about the only thing I'm good at." Gaara says, shrugging.

"Really?" Sasuke says frowning.

"Yeah. I'm useless with weights compared to the two of you I bet."

"Well that's comforting I guess."

"Not much good pounding someone if you can't catch them." Arisu says giggling.

"Since when did you take his side?" Sasuke says.

"Since art." She says, smirking at me. "After all, he made one of by ambitions in life come true without any casualties."

"What?" Naruto asks.

"Never you mind." I say mumbling about the picture and glaring at the floor.

The teacher then ushers us to get changed, which we do and everything seems to be fine again. That is, until the boys never come out of the changing rooms. We walk to our next lesson which is physics and walk in to see Gaara isn't there, nor is Naruto. We look at each other in worry.

"Okay you three," our teacher Asuma Sarutobi says, "you need to go to the head's office right away."

"Don't tell me..." Arisu says.

"Yep. Apparently fighting in the changing rooms so off you go." He explains.

We sigh and troop out of the room grumbling. Whenever something happens it is always the tree of us to be called out to give statements and to bale them out. We see the three of them arguing outside of the head's office, sitting on the benches outside it while the Head mistress herself stands in front of them.

Her name is Tsunade and she is as scary a teacher as you can get, and the most violent. She has long blond hair tied in two loose pigtails and has a low-cut top that shows off the cleavage of her giant boobs (they are even bigger then Hinata's!) and has fiery hazel eyes. The fight must have been bad if they are ignoring her like this.

You can see the vein on her forehead twitching in irritation. She looks as if she is about to blow and the tree of us stop a few metres from them and cover our ears ready. The boys however continue to argue. Then the inevitable happens. She blows.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU SHIT FACED BRATS!" she screams and the tree fall silent holding their ears in pain. "Girls, over here please." She says, noticing us.

We nod and walk over as she opens her office door. She glares down the boys and gestures for them to go inside which they reluctantly do. She holds the door for us and walks inside after all of us are inside of it. Then walk to her desk and sits down on her comfy looking swirly chair. We all sit in a long line in front of her desk, boy girl with Gaara sat next to me on the end.

"Okay," the head mistress says, rubbing her temples. "Now Naruto, Sasuke how many fights have you been in this year."

The two share a look of confusion between them over Hinata's head. Obviously they have lost count by now. But there has been a lot. Tsunade gets out a file and lays it on her desk. It makes a low thump when it hits the wood. The thing sure is thick and she opens it, canning the first page.

"The correct answer is four hundred and thirty two. And it is only April." She says, looking up at us.

Everyone gulps, even us girls. They could get permanently expelled for that many.

"Now," she says, folding her arms on top of the folder, "what is the only reason for these fights?"

"The girls..." Sasuke and Naruto both mutter, looking down at the floor.

"And the fight today?"

"The girls..."

"Well then." She says closing the file. "Don't you think you are being a little possessive there?"

Their jaws drop and me, Arisu and Hinata giggle at her. Tsunade may be a terror of a head mistress, she may be violent and she may have the foulest mouth in the school, even worse then the kids, but she knows how to play those two like a fiddle.

"Haha! You should see your faces." She says chuckling. "Anyway," she says turning to Gaara. "Not looking good for you, a fight on your first day."

"I'm not concerned." He says shrugging.

"No?"

"No."

"Well," she says leaning back on her chair. "What was your reason?"

"Some shit bags were discussing Nicola in a disgusting manner. So I shut them up." He says firmly. If I wasn't already expecting it, I would have seriously fallen off my chair.

"Really?" she says smirking at me and I feel a blush coming along. "So, you finally got yourself a boyfriend. You sure know how to pick them." She says to me.

"We're not going out." I say, eyebrow twitching as Hinata, Arisu and Naruto try to hold in their laughter.

"Why not?" she presses, and all three of them break out into full blow laughter.

"Oh shut up you guys!" I say annoyed and turn back to Tsunade. "We only met recently, so we don't know each other that well."

"But well enough for his to beat five guys into unconsciousness on his own?" she says.

My eyebrow twitches again. "Apparently." I say through gritted teeth, glaring at the smug red head next to me.

"So then, shall we move on." She says. "Sasuke, not enjoying this?"

Sasuke, who has been sitting rigid since the boyfriend comment glares back at her and nods. She frowns at him, cocking her head to one side and everyone else seems to calm down from their laughing fit.

"You don't like Gaara do you?" she says.

"No." Sasuke snaps.

"I see. You don't like him because he is close to Nicola?"

"Yes."

"Why is that?" she asks and his face softens a bit and his head moves back at the question. "She isn't Arisu, so why do you care? The care your showing is for more then just a friend? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"You cannot tell a soul." He says and she nods. "She is my bab-"he pauses, "my younger cousin." He says correcting himself.

"Really?" she says leaning forward. "But I thought that she and Naruto may be related."

"We are." I pitch in. "He is my cousin to, but from the other side of my family of course."

"Wow. Complicated or what." She says, quite stunned.

"Yeah, try living with it." I say sarcastically and roll my eyes.

"Well, that is interesting. So, seeing as the three boys are in trouble, and it would be odd if I sent you all back," she says and puts the file away and pulls out a pack of cards from her desk draw. "fancy a couple of games till the day ends?"

We all smirk and pull our chairs round the desk and play cards until the final bell goes at the end of the day. We do stop at lunch to eat and chat with each other. Tsunade also has Jiraiya come in and he plays with us for an hour of it. He is the deputy head and an old friend of hers. It must be weird to look at, but those two are like friends to us, so we find it quite normal, although, it takes a while for Gaara to warm up and start talking like the rest of us.

He is quite in general, but when he warms up to the situation he joins in with the conversations we have. He and Sasuke even manage to exchange wards and not a sinister one in what they say! It seems like a miracle!

But when the bell rings the six of us walk out the school together after saying goodbye to the headmistress and deputy head. We talk to fill the silence as we walk, everyone is trying to put of the part where me and Gaara go off into Orochimaru's place as it will be awkward. Especially for Sasuke and me. I really want to hug him like always, but even though he has calmed down since this morning, it still feels awkward between us.

After a while the shop reaches us and we all stop, standing in silence. Arisu breaks it by hugging me and saying bye. Hinata follows with Naruto after her. The tree then say goodbye to Gaara and that leaves Sasuke. I look at him. He stands, hands in his pockets and his eyes glued to the ground. Okay, time to break the awkwardness. I walk up to him and wrap my arms through his and hold onto his back, hugging him.

"Good night Sasuke!" I say in a cherry voice and quickly pull away smiling.

He blinks and looks at me, a little surprised. But slowly, like a rose opening up after a long winter, that small smile of his lights up his face. I feel my nervous stomach disappear at the sight of it. Yes! Sasuke is back!

"Yeah, night shrimp." He says.

"Hey! I'm not a shrimp!" I say pouting.

He chuckles at me and then turns to Gaara, smile disappearing. The two stare at each other for a while, Sasuke glaring and Gaara looking bored by the whole situation. Sasuke then chuckles to himself.

"Yeah." He says and Gaara looks up at the smirking raven haired boy in confusion. "My shrimp cousin can defiantly take care of you."

He then turns and walks off waving. Gaara blinks, and then glares at his retreating back. Everyone else smiles and giggles. Then they all following, waving back at us as they go and I find myself waving at them as well. I then turn to the back door and look up at Gaara who sighs and runs a hand through his crimson spikes.

"Well, that's a first day to remember." He says as he sighs and opens the door, stepping inside and I follow him in. You could say, I walked willingly into the lion's den, but was too happy to care.

* * *

**Another chapter done! **

**This chapter is the one I like the most so far personally.**

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	9. Big Night Out

**Chapter 9: Big Night Out **

Once inside we made our way to the kitchen were we found Kabuto standing, leaning against the counter in an accusing manner and glaring at Gaara. Apparently he is still not happy about the sleeping arrangements, in all honesty, neither am I. The thought of having to sleep in the same room is scary enough (in an embarrassing way), but the thought that I might have to share the same bed as him, that is absolutely petrifying!

"How was it then?" Kabuto asks as he turns on the coffee pot and we sit down at the table.

"It could have gone better." Gaara murmurs as he rummages through his bag.

"So what happened?" Orochimaru's enthusiastic voice chirps as he sits at the table with us smirking in that all knowing way he always does.

"I gained fangirls..." Gaara groans putting his face into his bag and mumbling death threats into the fabric.

"Ha ha! I thought that might happen!" Orochimaru chuckles. "And what interesting things happened to you today then Nicola?" he asks, turning to me.

"Nothing really." I say shrugging. "Although, I think I might be on his newly appointed fanclub's hit list." I say and another loud grown comes from Gaara who still has his face in his bag.

"Oh, well good luck with that." Orochimaru says.

Kabuto then walks round and hands out a coffee to each of us and then takes a seat next to Orochimaru at the table. I pick up my mug and take a sip as does everyone else, but Gaara who is still sulking with his bag.

"So, got any plans for this evening?" Kabuto finally asks me, breaking the silence.

"Not really," I say shrugging. "I haven't really thought about doing anything."

"Well then," Orochimaru says standing and pulling out his wallet from his back pocket and waving it about in the air. "How about we go out for a fancy dinner and celebrate Gaara surviving his first day in the human world?" he says beaming.

"What? Like, right now?" Kabuto stammers.

"Why not? We can go to the new place in town were all the posh tots go and have some fun! What is it called again? Some sort of animal or something." He says thinking.

"You mean The Lion's Den, the restaurant that just opened and the one that is so hard to get into?" I say blinking.

"That's the one!" Orochimaru says and pulls out four tickets from his wallet. "I have a friend on the inside who got me these last night so go upstairs and make yourselves presentable!"

"What? Sorry but no thanks!" I say standing and backing away.

"Come on Nicola, you have to go." Orochimaru says and puts his hand on my shoulder. "I even went out and got you a present just for the meal."

"No thanks. I'm not wearing a dress." I state firmly.

"Okay then, Kabuto picked it out." Orochimaru says and I look at Kabuto who smiles at me sheepishly.

"I was roped into it, but I think you will like it." He says in embarrassment. "We also got a suit for Gaara."

"I'm not going." Gaara says lifting his head from his bag. "There will be human girls there."

"Don't worry! They won't take a second look at you when you walk in with us." Orochimaru says and smirks. He then whispers something in his ear and he stands up looking at him.

"Seriously?" he says and Orochimaru nods. "Okay, lead the way to the dressing room." He says and I groan.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Orochimaru says and ushers us out of the kitchen.

* * *

We walk down past the stairs to the back room and step inside. It is divided down the middle by a thick wooden panel and Kabuto pushes me into the right hand side of it while Gaara is pulled along with Orochimaru and Kabuto into the left hand side. I walk further in and spot the full length mirror on the back wall and hanging on the wall next to it is the dress.

I have to say, I never knew Kabuto had such good taste. It is a black dress with spaghetti straps and has a pattern of white flowers that curl up from the bottom and up the left side of it all the way to the top. It looks as if it will come to just above my knees and below where it is hanging are a pair of small black heals as well as a bag with black leggings inside them which have silver glitter scattered all over them. There is also a stool next to the mirror and on it is a box.

I step over to it and open it up to find a necklace and matching earrings. They are both silver in colour with a red rose pendent on the necklace and a red rose on the stood of each earring with small silver droplets hanging down from them. They were gorgeous!

I smile and quickly change and giggle as I do so. I can hear the three guys arguing, but mostly Gaara telling Kabuto and Orochimaru to get out while he changes. Orochimaru is protesting this as much as he can, teasing the poor boy while Kabuto is trying to get Orochimaru to leave the school boy alone. Eventually I hear the two older men leave and the door to the room closes.

The silence is only broken by the rustling of fabric as I change and I can hear Gaara also begin to get ready. I put on the jewellery and then sit on the stool to put on my shoes. As I just finish them I hear a knock on the wooden panel near the door.

"Hey! Are you ready yet?" I hear Kabuto say from behind the panel.

"Yes." I call back and walk out into the hallway were all three of them are waiting for me.

I walk out to see three very handsome looking men blinking at me in shock it seems. As expected, all three look like film stars when they are done up. Orochimaru and Kabuto both wear plane black blazers, with a white shirt, black tie, black trousers and black shoes. Gaara however looks a bit different. He is wearing a black blazer, but has a red shirt under it which is un-tucked in a casual way, with black trousers, black shoes and no tie. I actually find my face starting to heat up, but manage to keep it down.

"Wow." Orochimaru stammers out.

"You look beautiful Nicola." Kabuto says beaming; you can tell he is proud of himself.

"Thanks." I say smiling.

"Well, shall we go?" Orochimaru says and glances knowingly at Gaara, who does not make any attempt to speak, but just stares at me.

"Yeah, let's go." I say and we walk out the back door were Orochimaru's black mustang is waiting for us.

* * *

Orochimaru drives and Kabuto sits next to him in the front, which leaves me and Gaara in an awkward silence on our own in the back. On the way over the two in the front talk casually to one another but it still doesn't help much. Through the whole drive Gaara continues to stare at me and I end up letting my hair (which is down for once in public) fall like a vial to hide from him. But I can still feel his eyes on me.

Once we arrive a doormen opens the door for me and I thank him. Orochimaru then hands him the keys and the doormen takes the car and parks it in the restaurants car park. I feel nervous as we walk to the door and stick close to my boss, my head down as I feel like every eye is on my. Hell, I'm not used to all this attention! But it looks like I'm not the only one with problems. I can see girls giving Gaara the eye and giggling to each other as we walk past. That irritates me.

I feel a cool hand slide into mine and a round of disappointed mumbles follow. I look up to see Gaara's hand in mine. I then leans down to my ear, his breathe sending an unexpected shiver down my spine and making my face heat up.

"Sorry, but I had to make them stop somehow." He whispers in my ear.

"That's okay." I say as we reach the door and are shown to our table.

We sit down, the waiter holding my chair out for me smiling and I thank him. He stutters, face going red before scurrying away. I sigh, great, another fanboy already and I've only just sat down. You would think a lone girl with three men at a table may deter anyone from looking. Actually it's the opposite. Girls glair at me, there eyes trying to burn holes in me through the jealousy of sitting on a table with three good looking men.

I grab the menu and bury my face in it to hide from the stairs. Though as I peek from behind it I see I am not the only one with problems. Gaara is getting his fair share of glairs from men around the room and every waitress who passes tries to _accidently_ touch him. But he manages to ignore them. I don't really like how those girls huddle in the corner, sighing and giggling over him.

Wait! What do I care! If they want to flirt with him let them! There is no way I'm jealous! Impossible. Unthinkable. Unimaginable. He is practically holding me captive by his mere presence. Not only that but he is hanging the possible murders of countless innocence over my head to keep me with him. He is a bastard. I must not forget that. No getting to like him, not even a little.

"Ready to order?" the voice of the blushing waiter from before brings me out of my internal rant.

"I think we are thank you." Orochimaru says and we place our orders of food and drink in turn.

"Okay, the drink will be with you shortly. I'll go get them now." He says and takes our menus.

As he does so his hand brushes mine in a deliberate attempt at contact which I have noticed guys using to flirt with Arisu before. He takes it smiling at me with a look that the fools who are after Arisu tend to have. I think its called lust.

He quietly takes his leave and I dare a glance to look at Gaara who is boring holes into the back of the waiter's head, hands twitching. I bite my lip at this. He did say that he would ask me, but would he really keep that promise?

I look away from him and decide to concentrate on the evening as a whole and not think about the fuming blood sucker sitting next to me. The night goes by quickly as Orochimaru and Kabuto drink with conversation spilling out over the table of which I also contribute to. Gaara remains silent all evening though. Through the food and drinks he does not utter a word nor make a sound.

My boss and his assistant get drunk somehow and almost end up kissing in one of their lustful rants going on. I ask for the bill, pay with Orochimaru's wallet which I pinched from his pocket while he was unconscious on the table after I wacked him round the head, and then get the hell out of there before we cause a scene. I help Kabuto walk to Orochimaru's car round the back of the restaurant while Garra carries Orochimaru's unconscious form on his back, scowling at anything he can lay his eyes on.

When the car shows up Gaara practically tosses Orochimaru into the back seat as I help Kabuto into his. He is already in the driver's seat and waiting for me to get in with the engine running by the time I have Kabuto belted in his seat. I nervously take my seat next to him, shut the door and put my belt on. Then the car speeds off into the night.

"Hey! Slow down!" I say, clutching the leather of my seat.

Gaara ignores me his fists turning white as he clutches the steering wheel. A snarl is still on his face as he stares straight ahead. He is mad. He has been since that waiter took our menus earlier. Why? It's not like the waiter was flirting with him. And he can handle girls, so what's his deal.

Finally we get back and the car screeches to a halt. Then before I can blink Gaara is gone and so are the two lovers in the back seat. My head swings round to see Gaara re-locking the front door then walking back round to the driver's side and get back into the car. He really is fast, faster than anything I have ever seen. I blink at him as he re-starts the engine, not bothering with a seat belt and drives off once more.

"Hey." I say, now concerned. "Where are we going?" I ask.

"To once of my safe houses." He states sighing and running a hand through his hair, seeming to try to control himself a little.

"Why?" I ask, now annoyed at the fact I am once again being lead round by him.

He pulls onto a dirt track and the road becomes bumpy. I bounce up and down in my seat as the car jolts over rocks and holes in the road. I finally see how far we are and am shocked to find that the woods are those I have never been in before. We drove that far? Where the hell are we?

After a few moments Gaara brings the car to a slow stop, parking it on the side of the dirt track, cutting the engine. He is then out and opening the door for me in the blink of an eye. I stare at him as he offers me a hand to help me out the car. I glair at it and unbuckle my seatbelt. I get out of the car, door shutting behind me as I push his hand away.

"Where the fuck are we?" I demand. Now thoroughly pissed off at him.

"A safe house of mine is a few yards that way." He says pointing in the direction of the thick woods beyond. "It's in a deeply wooded area a few miles outside of the town."

I blink at the explanation. We really are so far away? How the hell can he drive that far? And how can he go that fast? He takes my hand and pulls me into the woods, much to my obvious protest. The grip on my wrist seems to be of iron though as no matter how hard I try to pull from it, he just won't let go.

"Don't pull me around!" I snap in protest, jerking my wrist to emphasize the point.

Once again I am met only with his steely silence in return and the vice like grip on my wrist only tightens. Stumble a few times, tripping over dead wood and slipping on damp leaves. Yet the gip on me keeps me upright ad heading forward in an unknown direction of some safe house.

After a few moments the trees diminish into a large rock wall covered in green leafed creeper vines and mosses. I glance around to find we are at the base of a large rocky mountain that stretches up far above the canopy. I don't know any that are this big close to town. Just how far away are we?

Keeping a firm grip on me still Gaara walks up calmly over to the rock and brushes away the greenery so that a clear patch of grey stone is revealed. He then bites into his thumb, blood collecting at the spot. I blink curiously as he smears a line straight down the exposed rock before licking the excess blood off the tip of his thumb.

A grumbling sound comes from behind the rock and the ground trembles. With a groan the rock slides apart down the bloody line Gaara just made. After a moment a small gap forms and the movement stops along with the grumbling protests the stone gave when forced to split apart.

As soon as the movement stops I am being pulled along into the darkness of the rock. I squeak at the sudden tugging and slam my feet into the ground where the wedge either side of the rock gap, bringing me to a stop. It isn't the greatest position and certainly not very lady like. My legs are spread apart so that my feet are pressing into the mountain rock either side of the tunnel. My one arm is outstretched in Gaara's grasp while the other is keeping me upright by bracing against the rock wall.

Finally stopped in his quest to take me somewhere I don't even know, Gaara turns to me. A glair plastered across his face that I can make out even in the dim light that the moon gives of into the shadows of the tunnel.

"What do you think you are doing?" he snaps, obviously irritated at me.

"Getting an answer." I snap back, meeting his glair with one of my own.

"When we get inside I will answer everything you ask." He says. "I promise you."

"Sorry," I say with a snarl. "I have no time to wait seeing as I am stuck between a rock and a bastard. I would like to be able to choose one or the other, yet the thing that can talk isn't putting up a very good persuasion at the moment."

"You do not believe I will keep my promise?" he asks frowning. His glair fades with the confusion and I detect a hint of hurt in the depths of his eyes. Not like I care.

I stop for a moment. It feels like he would, yet I get a very strong sense that I am being dragged here to be hidden and he will then leave. He will leave me without an answer. I don't know where the feeling is coming from, but I believe in trusting my gut feeling, it saves my skin a lot of the time and my sanity most of it.

"No, I don't." I say after a moment of thought.

"I see." He says finally breaking eye contact with me and looking down to the floor. "Fine I shall answer you, but then you must come with me."

"Okay, that's all I want." I say, relieved at finally being let in on it.

"Well, back at there I caught a whiff of something." He says, choosing his words carefully. "I could smell my family and although they know I am staying with Orochimaru, who has earned their trust and respect, they don't know that I'm..." he pauses, trying to find the words to say what he means. "That I'm killing humans because of a human girl. They will know about the murdering, but I don't want them to know the reason for it."

His eyes then look up to meet mine. There is worry, sadness and desperation in them that scares me. He seems to be pleading with me with those enchanting eyes of his. In this moment he seems almost helpless, like a child and I feel my throat tighten at the sight.

"Please." He breathes out. "I need to see them, but you need to hide while I do. So please come with me and stay here until I come back, I promise not to be long. Trust me."

I gulp down the lump in my throat and look at him. For some reason, the promise seems real, one he will keep. I nod and he gives a grateful smile. I stand up properly and walk through the threshold into the shadows. The grip on my wrist loosens, but his hold remains, like he doesn't quite want to let go and he leads me through the darkness down the thin corridor.

It only takes a few minuets before the walls seem to disappear and for a moment my heart beats wildly in fear of what is in the unknown space, filling the darkness. Then I hear a click and flames appear on torches around the circular room. The floor is of stone but the room is surprisingly cosy. There is a small, red rug on the floor in front of a black, two-seater sofa and pushed up against the back all is a black, wooden coffin. On a small, brown dinning table with four matching chairs sits a folded blanket and pillow and just beside the table is a shut wooden door.

Gaara lets go of my wrists and walks over to the shut door and opening it up, gesturing to what is inside.

"This is the bathroom by the way." He then shuts the door. "Feel free to use anything in the room. Sorry, but there isn't any food or anything, but I do have some bottles of water in the fridge." He says, pointing to a small, silver mini fridge that sits on a wooden cabinet on the other side of the room I had failed to notice.

I step into the room and also notice that we had walked through a wooden door into this place. This looks a hell lot more like a safe cave then a safe house, but it is still nice I guess. Gaara then steps over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, looking deep into my eyes.

"You wont be able to get out once I close the rock up, but please, trust me." He says.

"All right." I say. "Just come back so I can go home."

He nods and takes his hand from my shoulder, walks to the door, then leaves shutting it behind him. I stare at the wood as I listen for the groaning of the rock which soon comes as the hole closes, trapping me within the depths of the mountain.

I let out the breath I didn't realise I was holding and flop onto the sofa face first. I groan into the soft fabric. How did such a pleasant night turn into this? Why does everything go wrong when Gaara is around me? Why the hell do I care?

I move onto my back, my hands folded behind my head and glair up at the ceiling. Why should I care about that bastard? He only causes me trouble, makes fun of me and spoils all my fun. Why do his eyes have to be so deep? Damn them to hell! How could he just look at me and I instantly do as he says? I am not some little girl who needs a knight in shining armour to rescue her from a dragons keep!

I sit up angrily with myself and look down at my black dress which is surprisingly not ripped or dirty. I brush the skirt to dust it off, though no dust comes from it. Really, how is it still clean? I mess with the hem as I think back, and then stop suddenly.

"He called me human." I say, stunned.

I blink, not quite sure how to take it. Should I be angry? Well what right would I have to be? Human is what I am, isn't it? I'm not a werecat; I'm not a werefox, so I must be human. Why does that make me feel sad?

My eyes widen even more as I feel a single warm tear roll down my cheek. I never thought of myself as human. Reality is a bitch. It hurts. I always strived to be like my cousins, like my friends, my family. How could I not realise just how human I was? Staying at home, sleeping during a full moon and preferring cooked meat over raw. It is all so human. I don't understand anything they go through, like I could. Sure I can run, sure I am strong, but so are humans. Humans aren't weak or slow. They are just slower than Shifters (werecats and werefoxes) and not as strong. Just like I am slower and weaker than my family.

I grit my teeth and hunch over holding myself. No wonder I am treated so carefully by everyone. They all know, they have always known. I was blinded by the people around me into forgetting what I was.

"Fuck." I say, though my frustrations remain.

I stand and my gaze fixes on the coffin. A place to hide, from the world, or from myself? I don't know, maybe both. I don't care. I open the lid and gaze down that the red silk that lines the inside of it, there is even a red pillow with a silk cover. It looks so inviting. I climb on into it, not thinking of taking off my heels and shut the lid on myself.

I curl up into myself, my head sinking into the pillow as I lye in the comforting darkness that blankets me. I close my eyes as my mind goes numb to the emotional pain that was surging through me moments ago. A musty scent envelops me as I breathe it in deeply, like a drug it takes me under. I bury my face in the pillow, squirming for more. It smells like nothing I know of, yet it is so familiar. Forests, fresh mountain air, the limitless nature of the wind are the thoughts that come to mind as I breathe it in.

My eyelids start to feel heavy even though they are closed. Sleep calls to me with the promise of comforting dreams where the real world doesn't exist. Where I can be anything I want to and go anywhere I please. Where I can escape my humanity.

* * *

I stir in my sleep as I feel an unusual warmth on my cheek. My eyelids flutter open where they are greeted by a lining of red silk. I blink slowly and sleepily, my brain trying to make sense of what I'm seeing.

"Time to get up sleepy head." I hear a familiar male voice chuckle.

The scent around me seems to be stronger where the voice is. I roll my head along with my eyes in the direction of the voice. A pale face flickering in the light of the fire from the torches around the room, crimson hair redder than the fire and eyes so deep you could drown in.

_Ding!_

My brain just snapped back on and I bolt straight up right, slamming my forehead against his in surprise. The pain shoots through where our heads make contact and I squeak, falling back down rubbing my head where pain is not shooting from the back where it bounced of the wooden bottom of the coffin, and the front.

"Ouch." I hear Gaara say as he rubs his forehead. "What the hell was that for?"

I sit up slowly this time, thankfully he is no longer leaning into the coffin and is standing back from it. I blink away the sleep from my eyes and glance sideways at him. He has changes out of the suit (to the disappointment of a small part of me) and into some ordinary jeans, black trainers and a red t-shirt with the phrase _"333 half way to hell"_ written in a dripping black front across the front of it. The numbers larger above the words underneath them.

"You surprised me." I mumble as I get out of the coffin.

He gives me a look that tells me he isn't very convinced, but lets the subject drop as he walks over to the sofa where a plastic bag sits. He pick it up and pushes it into my arms, keeping his head turned away from me.

"Here, I thought you might like a change of clothes." He says, not looking at me, pink staining his cheeks lightly.

I blink and look down into the bag. A pair of dark jeans, some black trainers and a blue t-shirt with what looks like a white dragon on it are inside the bag. I blink again, not sure how to take this. I don't recognise any of the clothes. I look up at him curiously. He didn't buy them for me did he?

"They're an apology for being so rude to you earlier." He says as he catches my confused look. "So are you going to change into them or what?"

"Oh." I say, blinking out of the initial shock. "Of course I am. Thank you." I say smiling at him, a small blush on my face.

I scurry into the bathroom and change quickly. Taking a moment to clean my teeth with some toothpaste I find in a carbonate above the sink and use my finger to scrub them. I feel a lot cleaner with fresh breathe. Then I come out, the clothes Kabuto bought me folded neatly into the bag.

"So, how did things go with your family?" I ask as he turns to me.

"To put it bluntly," he states shrugging. "I got told off."

I giggle at the mental image of a woman wagging her finger at him, shouting at him as he taps his foot and looks down, like a little kid caught steeling cookies from the jar in the kitchen by his mother.

"It isn't funny." He says, blushing a little. "Temari is really intimidating when she is mad. And she was red faced mad at me. So yes, I got shouted at and she hit me."

"Who's Temari?" I ask, now interested. He never seems to talk about anyone, just refers to his family or his farther.

"Oh." He says and blinks. "She is my older sister. Sorry, I didn't really tell you about my family did I"

I shake my head and sit down on the sofa which he joins me on. It looks like he is about to open up to me. Maybe I can find out more about vampires and maybe even get to know more about him himself. Not like I'm really that interested in him! But I would like to know.

"Okay, so at the moment my adopted dad is off somewhere I don't know where." He starts and I nod for him to continue. "Then there are my two siblings, Temari and my older brother Kankuro. Recently though the family has kind of grown a bit. So now I have a bother and sister-in-law."

"Really?" I say. "Just how old are you siblings?"

"Not very old. Temari is nineteen and Kankuro is eighteen." He says casually.

"And there married already?" I gasp, shocked causing Gaara to chuckle.

"Vampires don't believe in God, but yes, they are the equivalent." He says smirking.

"Which is?" I ask, closing my mouth.

"Mated."

"Mated? That's how Shifters refer to being married as well."

"I know." He says chuckling. "But yes it is a shock that they would find their mates so young."

"Why? Don't vampires date like other people?"

"No." He chuckles. "There can only be one." His gaze on my face softens and get seems more meaningful then before.

"Like soul mates." I ask frowning.

"Yes I suppose." He says, leaning back into the softness of the sofa and looking at the ceiling. "But it goes deeper than that. The person is the only one whom you are compatible with. The only one whom your body and mind can stand to be so close to."

I blink as the oddest question spews out of my mouth before I can hold it back. "So every unmated vampire is a virgin then?"

At this point I mentally die as Gaara bends forward as he bursts into laughter. It is deep and the look of pure amusement on his face is enchanting. He looks so alive, so happy. He takes a moment before sitting up, still smiling.

"Yes, it does." He chuckles again. "Thanks for that."

"For what?"

"Making me laugh, I don't usually laugh. I have never laughed so hard before."

"I guess your welcome then." I say smiling still with a blush of embarrassment on my face.

"So, back on subject, what are your in-laws like?" I ask, feeling more confident with my questioning now that some awkwardness has faded between us.

"Temari's mate is a guy called Shikamaru and Kankuro's mate is a girl called Ino. They are both nice and if they make my siblings happy that's good enough for me. Although, they also have a friend called Choji who is not part of my family. He like a brother to my two in-laws so he sort of just come with the package." He says shrugging.

"So why aren't you with them?" I ask.

"About a year ago everyone settled into the rhythm of family life, but I still felt restless. I needed some space, so I left." He says shrugging again.

"Did you just leave?"

"I told them I was."

"And?"

"And then I left. They know what I'm like. It was better that I did it seems. They all see happy and get on well. I don't want to mess up things when they are going well."

"Do they miss you?"

"Temari said they do, but she also said that she thought I looked happier." He said smiling. "This was after she shouted at me for killing humans and how I'm a bloodthirsty creep though."

"Oh. That bad?"

"I'm surprised it wasn't worse. But its fine now, I'm not killing so they said they are leaving. Although," he says frowning. "I didn't know they where living so close."

"What? They live near here?" I say turning in my seat, now a little worried, though I don't know why.

"Outside the next town over, so far away in human terms, but close in my terms." He says standing. "We should head back and see how those two drunkards are getting on."

I stand and nod. I guess that is all the information that I'm going to get out of him. But as we leave and walk back to Orochimaru's car I can't help but have a small smile on my face. Even though I may not fully understand him, or understand why I want to understand him, I feel as if we are closer. For some reason, this feeling is one I like.

He opens the door for me and is next to me starting the engine by the time my door is shut. I shake my head. That is one thing that I will never get used to. Although, it is cool how he does it, I think he needs a little reminder of who has the leash round here.

"Oh and by the way murderer," I say whacking him over the head. He jerks, not expecting it, then turns to me rubbing his head. "Who ever said I was human?"

I smirk at him widely as he glairs at me, though I know he doesn't mean it. He mumbles 'demon' under his breath and I chuckle at him, eyes sparkling with amusement. He turns from me and begins to drive back, though a lot slower than last time. We even drive on the speed limit!

As we pass the police station I see Kakashi out side of it getting out of his car and walking up the stone steps to the large wooden door. There is a large file in his hand and I can make out the title as '_High School Murders'_ on the front of it. I can't help but chuckle. If only the poor guy knew that case has already been closed.

Detective Kakashi move over, there is a new law in town and she's not going anywhere!

* * *

**Oh what a sad day it is *sniff sniff* ****And thus the case is closed.**

**Thank you to all those who have actually read this story!**

**Yes I know the first few chapters are crap, but I prefer the last few. I actually like some of the stuff I wrote! **

**Review this please!**

**All comment are welcome! But if you really hated it, be tactful in telling me okay? It is the first story I have completed after all and I have no plans on making any changes to it! But I have some few ideas knocking about in my brain, so I might do a sequel!**

**Thanks again! **

***waves bye* see you all next time! X3**


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